CIVIL  AND  RELIGIOUS  TOLERATION 


SPEECH 

OP 

HON.  WILLIAM  S.  BARRY,  OF  MISS., 

DELIVERED 

IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  DECEMBER  18,  1854. 


The  House  being  in  the  Committee  of  the 
Whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union — 

Mr.  BARRY  said;  * 

Mr.  Chairman:  I propose  to  offer  some  remarks 
upon  a subject  which  has,  for  months  past,  occu- 
pied a large  share  of  public  attention.  That 
subject  is,  in  common  parlance,  called  Know- 
Nothingism.  Opinions  the  opposite  of  those  I 
entertain  have  already  been  avowed  here;  and  I 
seize  the  opportunity,  which  I did  not  before  enjoy, 
of  declaring  my  own. 

This  society,  or  association,  known  by  the 
name  of  “ Know-Nothings,”  is  one  which  has 
recently  sprung  into  existence.  Its  founders  are 
unknown;  its  purposes  are  unknown,  because  the 
purposes  avowed  by  those  who  are  supposed  to 
belong  to  it — by  those  advocating  it — are  con- 
tradictory in  their  character.  These  are  to  be 
deduced,  not  from  authorized  avowals  of  those 
acknowledged  to  belong  to  the  society,  but  they 
are  to  be  gathered  by  scraps,  collected  here  and 
there  from  the  declarations  of  those  who  are  sus- 
pected of  being  members,  or  who  have  incident- 
ally acquired  information.  It  is  not  like  other 
political  organizations  here,  avowing  principles, 
and  meeting  and  daring  the  responsibility  of  the 
avowal.  It  is  not  like  other  associations,  which 
having  principles  believed  to  be  of  vital  import- 
ance to  the  country,  their  members  are  willing  to 
declare  those,  principles,  and  to  stand  or  fall  with 
them.  ’ If,  then,  in  attempting  to  find  out  the 
purposes  of  this  order,  I shall  do  injustice  to  it — 
if  I shall  ascribe  to  it  that  which  its  advocates  j 
deny,  let  members  upon  this  floor,  if  there  be  such  j 
belonging  to  the  order,  rise  and  correct  me.  I j 
shall  be  willing  to  be  supplied  with  the  informa-  j 
tion — more  willing,  perhaps,  than  they  will  be  to 
give.it. 

This  association  appeals  to  that  which  is  strong 
in  every  country.  It  appeals  to  that  feeling  of 
nationality  without  , which  a nation  cannot  exist 
as  an  independent  Government,  but  which,  at  the  [ 


same  time,  when  kindled  and  maddened,  may  de- 
stroy all  that  is  good  in  government,  and  subvert 
the  very  principles  on  which  it  was  established. 
There  is  no  nation  in  the  world — and  the  more 
intellectual,  socially  and  politically,  the  nation  is, 
the  less  ready  it  will  be  to  entertain  the  prejudice — 
I say  that  there  is  no  nation  upon  earth  in  which 
this  prejudice  against  foreigners  and  foreign  popu- 
lation cannot  be  aroused;  and  the  most  beautiful 
and  soothing  effect  of  civilization,  the  loveliest  in- 
fluence of  our  own  institutions,  has  been  to  mollify 
this  prejudice  against  those  outside  our  borders, 
and  to  bring  the  whole  family  of  nations,  as  it 
were,  into  a common  brotherhood.  According  to 
the  degree  of  a nation’s  civilization,  according  as 
it  is  high,  or  low,  you  will,  as  a general  rule,  find 
this  prejudice  and  hostility  tto  foreigners.  In  pro- 
portion as  a nation  is  elevated  in  its  consciousness 
of  power,  and  in  its  knowledge  oT  the  high  duties 
of  civilization,  will  it  receive  and  treat  with  re- 
spect those  who  spring  from  a foreign  soil,  or  are 
reared  under  the  influence  of  different  ideas;  and 
as  it  sinks  in  the  scale  of  self-respect  and  civiliza- 
tion, in  the  same  degree  do  you  find  this  prejudice; 
and  as  a nation  is  possessed  of  a rabble  instead  of 
a people,  it  will  be  seen  that  its  fury  can  be  aroused 
against  all  who  cannot  pronounce  its  Shibboleth. 

One  of  the  most  frequent  justifications  of  this 
organization,  Mr.  Chairman — the  one  which  I 
have  heard  alluded  to  here  and  elsewhere — is 
that  there  are  secret  associations  of  foreigners 
which  must  be  counteracted  in  this  manner.  If 
such  political  associations  exist  among  the  foreign 
population  of  this  country,  it  certainly  seems  a 
strange  method  to  rebuke  the  error  by  forming 
other  associations,  in  which  are  embodied  all  that 
is  wrong  in  those  we  condemn.  We  give  dignity 
and  consequence  to  their  conduct  by  imitating  it, 
and  lose  all  the  advantage  of  honest  principles  by 
leveling  our  own  conduct  to  the  standard  of  those 
we  reprobate.  If  the  foreigners  have  adopted 
rules  of  action  incompatible  either  with  social 


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order  or  political  rights,  there  can  be  no  duty 
more  consistent  with  pure  philanthropy  or  elevated 
patriotism,  than  the  attempt  to  correct  their  error, 
and  infuse  into  their  minds  juster  views  of  the 
duties  of  the  citizen,  both  to  his  neighbor  and  to  the 
State.  W e have  adopted  the  humane  and  tolerant 
opinion  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  the  great  apostle  of  the 
Democratic  party,  and  who  infused  into  it  that 
generous  and  trusting  faith  in  man,  whether  native 
or  alien  born,  which  has  been  the  germ  of  the 
chief  differences  between  the  two  great  parties  of 
the  country,  “ That  little  is  to  be  feared  from  error , 
while  reason  is  left  free  to  combat  it.”  The  evils  that 
we  see  are  not  to  be  cured  by  persecution;  the 
faggot  and  the  stake  are  exploded  arguments; 
and  having  discarded  the  more  open,  manly,  and 
responsible  instruments  of  torture,  we  will  not 
now  turn  to  seize  upon  those  which  are  secret, 
sinister,  and  irresponsible. 

A few  Germans,  so  goes  the  story,  have  formed 
an  association  whose  purpose  is,  among  other 
heterodox  things,  to  abolish  the  Christian  Sab- 
bath, and  straightway  the  alarm  is  given,  and 
men  who  never  seemed  to  care  for  Protestantism 
before,  have  become  disturbed.  We  have  a body 
of  Christians,  numerous,  zealous,  and  devout; 
we  have  a press,  able,  skillful,  and  ever  ready;  we 
have  a clergy,  watchful,  learned,  and  pious;  and 
more  than  all,  we  have  a Revelation  on  which,  as 
on  a rock,  is  based  the  institution  of  the  Christian 
Sabbath;  yet  neither,  nor  all  of  these  is  thought 
sufficient  to  save  the  Sabbath  from  the  assaults  of  a 
few  nameless  foreigners,  and  the  aid  of  the  civil 
authority  is  invoked  to  devise  some  policy  by  which 
the  tideof  German  infidelity  may  be  stayed.  That  j 
remedy  is  worthy  of  Rome  herself  three  hundred 
years  ago.  It  is  to  disfranchise  three  millions  of 
people,  to  reverse  the  policy  of  the  freest  Govern- 
ment on  earth,  and  while  there  are  indications  of 
progress  in  every  nation  of  the  civilized  world,  to 
present  ours  as  the  only  one  which  is  going  back- 
ward. If  the  efforts  of  a few  hundred  foreigners 
can  put  Christianity  in  peril,  it  has  a feebler  hold 
upon  the  human  heart,  and  is  less  closely  inter- 
woven with  the  wants  and  principles  of  our 
nature  than  I had  supposed. 

There  have  been  meetings  held  publicly  in  New 
York  city,  and,  doubtless,  will  be  again,  where 
the  Bible,  the  Church,  and  the  whole  scheme  of 
Christianity  have  been  denounced  and  held  up  to 
reprobation.  These  meetings  were  composed  of 
native-born  citizens,  and  yet  no  remedy  has  been 
proposed  for  the  evil  which  required  the  disfran- 
chisement of  all  native-born  citizens  on  account  of 
the  insane  vagaries  of  a few,  or  which  struck  at 
the  root  of  the  dearest  privileges  of  the  citizen,  to 
eradicate  a transient,  though  crying  evil.  The 
Boston  Investigator  has  for  years  avowed  and 
advocated  principles  utterly  at  war  with  Chris- 
tianity; yet.  no  body  of  men  that  I know  of,  has 
leagued  together,  by  solemn  oaths,  to  disfranchise 
the  editor  or  his  readers  of  their  civil  rights.  The 
Unitarianism  prevalent  in  and  about  Boston  is  as 
little  acceptable  to  the  great  body  of  Christians  in 
this  country  as  Catholicism;  but  the  truly  noble 
tolerance  of  the  people  has  not  thought  it  just  or 
politic  to  attempt  the  extinction  of  heresy  or  infi- 
delity by  imposing  civil  disabilities.  The  best, 
the  only  proper,  remedy  for  erroneous  opinion,  is 
argument  and  truth,  offered  in  the  spirit  of  respect 
and  kindness;  and  a party  which,  in  a free  coun- 


try, attempts  to  drive  men  by  secret  or  open 
proscription,  and  to  punish  freedom  of  thought 
by  covert  assaults  of  intolerance,  can  achieve  only 
a temporary  success,  and  escape  for  but  a little 
while  the  condemnation  which  enlightened  men 
visit  upon  every  form  of  persecution.  Wherever 
thought  is  free  it  will  run  riot  in  error.  The  great 
truths  which  the  consent  of  man  has  adopted,  are 
but  grains  of  wheat  winnowed  from  bushels  of 
chaff.  It  is  only  by  the  widest  excursions  of 
thought  that  the  treasures  of  the  universe  are  gar- 
nered, and  the  vagaries  of  error  are  often  sug- 
gestive of  the  finest  discoveries  of  truth.  Your 
freedom  and  mine,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  think  right, 
rest  upon  the  same  guarantees  as  the  German’s 
right  to  think  wrong.  His  right  to  the  abuse  of 
his  freedom  of  thought  cannot  be  assailed  through 
the  medium  of  law,  or  the  more  criminal  agency 
of  a secret  oath-bound  association  without  peril- 
ing our  right  to  the  proper  use  of  our  freedom. 

Secret  political  associations  have  heretofore 
existed  in  Oppressed  countries,  for  enlarging  the 
rights  of  the  citizens,  and  limiting  the  powers  of 
rulers;  but,  this  is  the  first,  so  far  as  my  read- 
ing extends,  in  which  the  effort  has  been  made, 
through  such  an  organization,  to  narrow  the 
liberty  of  man,  and. graft  an  oppressive  principle 
upon  the  Government.  There  has  been  a strong 
repugnance  to  these  political  associations  in  this 
country  from  the  earliest  period  of  our  history. 
The  society  of  the  Cincinnati,  formed  immediately 
after  the  Revolution,  and  composed  of  men  fresh 
from  the  baptism  of  fire  and  blood  in  that  holy 
struggle,  has  decayed,  and  almost  expired,  under 
the  distrust  felt  by  the  American  people  of  secret 
associations,  which  might  be  wielded  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  public  liberty,  or  to  serve  the  ambi- 
tious purposes  of  those  who  would  make  the 
association  the  instrument  of  their  own  advance- 
ment. The  times  are  not  so  improved,  nor  men 
grown  so  patriotic,  that  a power  which  was  denied 
by  public  opinion  to  the  best  patriots  of  the  purest 
days  of  the  Revolution,  can  safely  be  intrusted  to 
the  hands  of  those  who  can  show  no  peculiar 
claim,  either  of  service  or  purity,  to  special  confi- 
dence. 

But,  sir,  the  purposes  of  this  order  and  its 
organization  are  distinct.  The  end  to  be  accom- 
plished and  the  instruments  may  be  dissimilar 
and  inconsistent.  When  the  advocates  of  this 
religious  and  political  intolerance  talk  to  me  of 
securing  the  independence  of  our  country,  of 
having  our  character  truly  American,  of  rejecting 
utterly  all  foreign  influence  and  dictation,  though 
1 have  been  deluded  with  the  belief  that  we  have 
long  enjoyed  all  these  blessings,  still  my  heart 
glows  as  l listen  to  these  patriotic  sentiments, 
urged  with  such  warmth  and  eloquence;  but  when 
I ask  for  the  means  of  effecting  these  desirable 
ends,  and  am  pointed  to  a secret  political  associa- 
tion which  the  traditions  of  our  fathers,  yet  glow- 
ing with  the  life-blood  of  the  Revolution,  and  the 
instincts  of  my  republican  nature,  and  the  creed  of 
the  Democratic  party  whose  truths  I have  been 
taught  to  act  upon  and  to  revere,  all  warn  me  to 
shun;  when  I am  urged  to  join  in  proscribing 
one  portion  of  my  fellow-citizens  because  of  their 
birth,  and  another  because  of  their  religious  opin- 
ions, I naturally  inquire,  can  the  purpose  of  those 
be  good  who  employ  such  means  for  its  accom- 
plishment? I am  far  from  charging  upon  the 


3 


advocates  of  Know-Nothingism  any  wish  to  inflict 
evil  upon  their  country;  yet  they  are  justly  to  be 
held  responsible  for  all  the  consequences,  moral, 
social,  and  political,  which  flow  from  their  doc- 
trines. 

Thus,  Mr.  Chairman,  two  distinct  questions 
are  presented  in  examining  this  subject— first,  the 
purposes  which  the  order  has  in  view ; and  secondly, 
the  means  by  which  they  are  to  be  accomplished. 

These  purposes,  as  gathered  from  supposed 
members,  from  newspapers  professing  to  advocate 
the  views  of  the  order,  and  from  the  writings  and 
speeches  of  those  affecting  to  sympathize  with  it, 
are — 

First.  The  exclusion  of  all  foreigners  from  office. 

Second.  The  extension  of  the  term  of  naturali- 
zation from  five  to  twenty-one  years,  or  some 
other  period  longer  than  five  years. 

Third.  The  entire  repeal  of  the  naturalization 
laws. 

Fourthly.  The  exclusion  of  Roman  Catholics 
from  office. 

The  means  by  which  these  things  are  to  be 
accomplished,  are  a secret  political  association,  in 
which  the  members  are  bound  by  the  most  solemn 
oaths  to  obedience,  to  silence,  and  to  mutual  fidelity. 

I shall  speak,  first,  of  the  organization,  and 
then  of  the  purposes  the  order  has  in  view. 

I can  but  believe  that  a secret  political  associa- 
tion is  dangerous,  to  the  rights  of  the  people  and  to 
the  stability  of  the  Government.  In  a free  Gov- 
ernment, where  every  man  is  entitled  to  declare 
his  opinions,  and  there  is  no  punishment  for 
the  avowal  of  whatever  doctrines  he  may  enter- 
tain, what  excuse  can  there  be  for  a resort  to 
secrecy?  When  the  people  are  oppressed  by  a 
tyrannical  Government,  and  the  penalty  of  death 
awaits  every  man  who  dares  to  speak  or  think 
against  the  power  that  is  crushing  him,  there  may 
indeed  be  an  excuse  for  patriots  scheming  in  the 
darkness  of  midnight,  and  in  the  security  of 
unknown  places  of  meeting;  but,  in  the  midst  of 
a people  who  enjoy  every  liberty  that  the  most 
liberal  institutions  can  bestow,  where  freedom  of 
thought,  of  speech,  of  action,  and  of  the  press, 
are  the  birth-right. of  every  man,  how  can  a secret 
proscriptive  organization  be  allowed  to  take  root, 
and  rights,  the  dearest  that  man  can  exercise,  or 
Government  protect,  be  taken  from  the  people  by 
means  so  insidious  and  so  fruitful  of  danger? 

The  Constitution  allows  no  oaths  to  be  forced 
upon  the  voter,  nor  tests  to  be  imposed  in  the  use 
of  that  franchise.  The  sense  of  duty  and  the  per- 
sonal stake  of  each  man  in  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity were  thought  sufficient  to  insure  its  faith- 
ful exercise.  But  this  secret  association  attempts 
to  bind  men  by  the  most  stringent  oaths  to  exercise 
the  right  of  voting  only  as  certain  native  patriots 
shall  determine,  in  the  secrecy,  and  perhaps 
in  the  darkness,  of  midnight.  The  citizen  who 
assumes  these  oaths  and  obligations  parts  with  his 
individual  freedom,  abandons  his  personal  inde- 
pendence, and  comes  to  the  polls,  not  an  untram- 
meled voter,  but  a mere  machine  to  carry  out,  by 
his  suffrage,  the  elections  and  the  purposes  which 
others — perhapsagainst  his  consent — havedeterm- 
inedon.  He  barters  away  his  freedom  who  makes 
any  pledges  or  swears  any  oaths  which  impair  his 
right  to  modify  his  ticket  at  any  time  prior  to  de- 
positing it  in  the  ballot-box.  The  electoral  fran- 
chise is  one  which  is  conferred  on  each  individual 


I who  exercises  it,  and  which  he  has  no  right  to 
1 trammel  the  free,  judicious  use  of,  by  private  oaths 
1 and  secret  combinations;  and  his  duty  is  to  his 
I country  and  the  Constitution,  not  to  midnight 
! caucuses  of  ambitious  and  crafty  men,  who  glaze 
! over  their  schemes  of  selfishness  with  well  affected 
j anxiety  for  the  public  good. 

I It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  an  order  so  exten- 
1 sive  and  numerous  as  the  Know-Nothings  could 
| exist  a great  while  without  a revelation  or  betrayal 
j of  its  secrets,  despite  the  strenuous  efforts  made 
j to  preserve  them.  A publication  was  made  a few 
| weeks  since,  in  the  Boston  Post,  of  the  constitu- 
] tion,  ritual,  &c.,  of  the  order  in  the  State  of  Mas- 
j sachusetts,  and  those  of  other  States  are  believed, 
j so  far  as  they  have  been  revealed,  to  be  essentially 
; alike.  A witness,  who  was  being  examined  in  a 
court  of  justice  in  Massachusetts,  was  asked  if 
he  belonged  to  the  order,  and  after  much  equivo- 
cation, he  admitted  it,  and  being  asked  further,  if 
the  publication  in  the  Post  was  an  authentic  copy 
of  the  records  of  the  order,  he  replied  that  it 
was.  Thus  we  have  reliable  information  as  to 
the  method  of  initiation  into  the  order,  the  signs, 
pass-words,  &c.,  the  oaths  the  members  take,  and 
the  purposes  they  have  in  view. 

I have  here  the  oath  of  the  candidate  for  ad- 
mission into  the  second  degree  council,  as  given, 
and,  so  far  as  I know,  uncontradicted,  in  the 
Pennsylvanian,  extra,  of  October  6.  It  is  as 
follows: 

“ Obligation. — You,  and  each  of  you,  of  your,  own  free 
will  and  accord,  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God  and  these 
witnesses,  your  right  hand  resting  on  this  Holy  Bible  and 
Cross,  and  your  left  hand  raised  toward  heaven,  or,  if  it 
| be  preferred , your  left  hand  resting  on  your  breast,  and  your 
| right  hand  raised  toward  heaven,  in  token  of  your  sincerity, 
do  solemnly  promise  and  swear,  that  you  will  not  make 
known,  to  any  person  or  persons,  any  of  the  signs,  secrets, 
mysteries,  or  objects  of  this  organization,  unless  it  be  to 
those  whom,  after  dufe  examination,  or  lawful  information, 
you  shall  find  to  be  members  of  this  organization,  in  good 
standing;  that  you  will  not  cut,  carve,  print,  paint,  stamp, 
stain,  or  in  any  way,  directly  or  indirectly,  expose  any  of 
the  secrets  or  objects  of  this  order,  nor  suffer  it  to  be  done 
by  others,  if  in  your  power  to  prevent!  it,  unless  it  be  for 
official  instruction  ; that  so  long  as  you  are  connected  with 
this  organization,  if  not  regularly  dismissed  from  it,  you 
will,  in  all  things,  political  or  social,  so  far  as  this  order  is 
concerned,  comply  with  the  will  of  the  majority,  when 
expressed  in  lpwful  manner,  though  it  may  conflict  with 
your  personal  preference,  so  long  as  it  does  not  conflict 
with  the  grand,  State,  or  subordinate  constitutions,  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America,  or  that  of  the 
State  in  which  you  reside;  and  that  you  will  not,  under 
any  circumstances  whatever,  knowingly  recommend  an 
unworthy  person  for  initiation,  nor  suffer  it  to  be  done,  if 
in  your  power  to  prevent  it.  You  furthermore  promise  and 
declare,  that  you  will  not  vote  nor  give  your  influence  for 
any  man  for  any  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people,  unless  he 
bean  American-born  citizen,  in  favor  of  Americans-born 
ruling  America;  nor  if  he  be  a Roman  Catholic;  and  that 
you  will  not,  under  any  circumstances,  expose  the  name  of 
any  member  of  this  order,  nor  reveal  the  existence  of  suck 
an  organization.  To  all  the  foregoing  you  bind  yourselves, 
under  the  no  less  penalty  than  that  of  being  expelled  from 
this  order,  and  of  having  your  name  posted  and  circulated 
throughout  the  different  councils  of  the  United  States,  as  a 
perjurer,  and  as  a traitor  to  God  and  your  country,  as  being 
unfit  to  be  employed  and  trusted,  countenanced,  or  supported 
in  any  business  transaction,  as  a person  totally  unworthy 
the  confidence  of  all  good  men,  and  as  one  at  whom  the 
finger  of  scorn  should  ever  be  pointed.  So  help  you  God  !” 
j (Each  answers,  “ I do.”) 

! There  are  several  things  in  this  oath  well  calcu- 
lated to  excite  the  apprehension  of  judicious,  con- 
scientious men.  It  is  easy  to  perceive  in  how 
many  instances  it  may  happen  that  . adherence  to 
Jit  will  conflict  with  a member’s  duty  as  a citizen. 


4 


It  may  very  frequently  occur  that  a member  may 
be  required  to  testify  in  a court  of  justice  of  his 
own  membership,  as  in  the  instance  before  alluded 
to,  which  arose  in  Massachusetts,  in  which  the 
witness  endured  the  most  painful  and  harassing 
struggles  of  mind  in  determining  where  the  obli- 
ation  of  duty  lay,  whether  to  obey  the  oath  taken 
eforethe  court,  or  the  one  sworn  in  a midnight 
association;  which  claim  was  paramount,  that  of 
his  country,  to  whom  he  owed  duty  and  allegi- 
ance from  his  birth,  or  that  of  a secret  proscriptive 
society,  which  had  entangled  him  with  oaths,  and 
digged  pitfalls  about  him  for  his  conscience.  Has 
a citizen  the  moral  right,  and  if  he  has  the  right, 
is  it  a worthy  and  judicious  use  of  it  thus  to  per- 
plex his  sense  of  duty  by  assuming,  unnecessarily, 
vows  of  the  most  solemn  character,  and  which  he 
cannot  disregard  even  in  obedience  to  that  higher 
and  more  ancient  duty  which  rests  upon  us  all, 
without  incurring  the  censure,  and,  perhaps,  the 
punishment  of  those  with  whom  he  had  associ- 
ated ? In  my  judgment,  sir,  a man  who  is  a mem- 
ber of  an.  established  Government,  from  which  he 
receives  the  amplest  protection  of  person  and 
property,  and  to  which,  in  return,  he  owes  the 
amplest  measure  of  fidelity  and  obedience,  has  not 
the  moral  right  to  take  such  an  oath  as  that  I have 
quoted.  He  may  as  well  owe  allegiance  to  a for- 
eign sovereign,  and  be  ready  to  obey  his  com- 
mands, as  assume  obligations  to  any  society  of 
his  countrymen  which  place  him  in  collision  with 
his  own- Government.  So  plain,  and  almost  self- 
evident  is  this  truth,  that  a year  since  no  one  in 
this  country  could  have  been  found  to  question  it, 
as  no  one  will  a year  or  two  hence,  when  this  bub- 
ble, with  its  tints  that  delude  some  eyes,  shall 
have  passed  into  oblivion,  with  its  elder  brothers, 
the  alien  and  sedition  laws,  and  the  public  mind, 
swayed  from  its  self-poised  equilibrium  by  a tem- 
porary excitement,  shall  have  recovered  its  just 
position. 

Many  who  have  joined  this  association,  under 
the  best  of  the  thousand  inducements  by  which 
good  men  have  been  seduced  into  a connection 
with  it,  \vhen  they  come  to  estimate  calmly  and 
justly  the  false  position  in  which  they  have  placed 
themselves,  will  do,  as  thousands  of  others  have 
done  already,  abandon  it;  and  feeling  that  the 
laws  and  the  Constitution  of  their  country  are  a 
safer  measure  of  public  duty,  and  surer  guardians 
of  public  right,  and  honor,  and  interest,  than  the 
murky  resolves  of  any  association  that  ever 
adopted  persecution  for  its  creed,  and  an  irrespon- 
sible secrecy  for  its  means,  can  be,  they  will 
renew  their  open  associations  with  their  fellow- 
citizens,  and  abjure  thenceforth,  as  the  worst 
enemies  of  freedom,  all  political  organizations 
"which  employ  oaths,  or  secrecy,  or  persecution. 
An  oath  such  as  this  it  is  culpable  to  lake , but  it  is  far 
more  culpable  to  execute  it.  An  oath  to  do  wrong, 
to  violate  a known  duty,  sworn  to  in  excitement 
or  heedlessness,  it  is  safer  for  the  soul  manfully 
to  abjure,  than,  under  the  delusive  promptings  of 
arrogance  and  pride,  to  persist  in  its  completion. 

Tne  oath  provides  that  the  member  shall  “ not, 
under  any  circumstances,  expose  the  name  of 
any  member  of  this  order,  nor  reveal  the  exist- 
ence of  such  an  organization.”  This  portion 
of  the  oath,  perhaps,  explains  why  those  not 
in  the  order  have  never  met  a man  who  confessed 
that  he  belonged  to  it.  And,  sir,  we  have  heard 


men  deny  connection  with  it,  whom  we  have  every 
reason  to  be  satisfied  were  members.  Has  any 
man  the  right  to  take  an  oath  binding  himself  to 
the  continuous  statement  of  an  untruth.  Can  that 
institution  be  good  whose  first  fruits  are  thus 
evil?  No,  sir;  it  is  wrong,  radically  wrong.  Nor 
can  the  guilt  of  the  deception  be  escaped  by  the 
flimsy  evasion  that  the  real  name  of  the  order  is 
not  “ Know-Nothing,”  and  that,  consequently,  a 
man  may  safely  say  he  does  not  belong  to  one  of 
that  name,  though  he  really  is  connected  with  the 
order  which  the  public  have  designated  by  that 
title,  and  he  well  knows  it  is  the  one  alluded  toby 
the  inquirer.  Since  his  intention  is  to  deceive,  he 
is  responsible  for  the  deceit.  Nor  can  he  escape 
by  the  plea  that  the  querist  has  no  right  to  put 
the  question,  and  that  he  is,  therefore,  at  liberty  to 
disregard  the  truth  in  his  ans\ver.  It  is  by  no 
means  certain  that  each  citizen  has  not  the  right 
to  ask  every  other  any  question  he  may  see  fit,  in 
reference  to  public  matters,  without  being  liable 
to  the  charge  of  inquisition  or  impertinence;  and 
though  the  person  asked  may  have  the  choice  of 
silence  or  speech,  he  is  under  the  common  obliga- 
tion that  rests  on  all  men,  if  he  answers  at  all,  to 
tell  the  truth.  No  oaths  sworn,  however  solemnly , 
nor  with  the  direst  penalties  that  a secret  midnight 
association  ever  devised,  can  discharge  a citizen 
from  the  eternal  duty  of  veracity.  The  difficul- 
ties in  respect  to  truthfulness,  in' which  a member 
is  involved,  arise  from  his  oath  to  conceal  the 
existence  of  the  order,  and  his  own  connection 
with  it.  If  he  were  allowed  to  confess  that  there 
is  such  an  order,  and  that  he  belongs  to  it,  he 
then  might  frankly  and  consistently  refuse  to  tell 
anything  further.  But  the  object  seems  to  be  to 
protect  the  members  from  the  odium  with  which 
secret  political  associations  have  been  viewed  in 
this  country,  and  to  secure  the  benefits  of  such 
an  organization,  while  they  escape  the  responsi- 
bility of  a connection  with  it.  There  is  more  of 
wily  cunning,  than  of  republican  frankness  and 
manhood,  in  such  a course. 

But  this  secrecy  necessarily  destroys  all  confidence 
between  men.  Till  this  new  order  sprung  into 
existence,  with  its  frightful  demands  upon  the 
conscience  of  its  members,  there  existed  among 
the  citizens  of  our  country  such  mutual  trustful- 
ness that  the  statements  of  men  of  good  character 
were  received  without  distrust  upon  all  subjects; 
but  since  it  has  come  to  be  admitted  that  some 
men,  of  hitherto  unquestioned  veracity,  have 
falsely  denied  their  connection  with  the  order  of 
the  Know-Nothings,  and  it  has  even  been  more 
than  suspected  that  some  of  those  from  whom  we 
have  a right  to  expect  an  especial  purity  of  life, 
and  by  whom  we  have  been  accustomed  to  be 
taught  that  it  is  better  to  die  than  to  stain  our  lips 
with  untruth,  have  taken  the  oath  before  quoted, 
and  which  requires  of  them  conduct  so  much  at 
variance  with  their  teaching,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  some  have  become  skeptical  of  the 
existence  of  human  veracity.  The  whole  social 
fabric  rests  ppon  the  belief  of  truth  among  men; 
and  the  strongest  bond  of  faith  in  an  individual’s 
truthfulness,  is  the  well-founded  opinion  that  he 
has  never  once  voluntarily  defiled  his  soul  with 
falsehood.  To  conceal  effectually  their  connection 
with  the  order,  the  members  may  be,  and  some 
possibly  have  been,  driven  to  aline  of  conduct, in 
my  opinion,  more  reprehensible  than  a direct 


5 


denial  of  the  truth — the  acting  of  a protracted  and 
systematic  falsehood.  Having  formerly  belonged 
to  the  old  Whig  and  Democratic  parties,  and  not 
daring  to  excite  suspicions,  or  to  confirm  those 
already  entertained,  of  their  belonging  to  the 
Know-Nothings,  by  separating  themselves  openly 
from  their  old  friends,  they  still  affect  to  retain 
their  interest  in  party  action  and  party  success, 
allow  themselves  to  be  treated  as  members  of  their 
old  parties,  become  possessed  of  information, which 
is  given  to  them,  as  they  well  know,  on  the  belief 
of  their  being  still  faithful  to  their  former  friends, 
and  yet,  while  acting  thus,  they  are  under  oaths 
which  bind  them  to  different  parties,  different  prin- 
ciples, and  different  candidates. 

That  this  is  no  idle  supposition  of  my  own,  as 
some  credulous  persons,  who  think  that  such 
things  cannot  be  in  a free  and  manly  country  like 
oitr  own,  may  be  tempted  to  exclaim,  I will  quote 
from  the  resolves  of  a Know-Nothing  Council  in 
Brooklyn,  New  York.  The  preamble  to  those 
resolves  declares  that,  “ good  men  and  true  had 
already  been  nominated  by  the  great  political  par- 
ties of  the  State,  the  nomination  of  some,  of 

WHOM  WAS  EFFECTED  BY  THE  DIRECT  ACTION  OF 

this  order.”  If  any  man,  Whig  or  Democrat, 
had  smuggled  himself  into  a meeting  of  the  other 
party,  by  pretending  to  belong  to  it,  the  judgment 
of  all  men  would  reprobate  the  act  as  perfidious 
and  disgraceful.  The  contempt  of  all  honorable 
men  would  follow  him  like  a curse.  What  rule 
of  morals  can  tolerate  in  members  of  this  order, 
that  which  is  condemned  in  all  other  parties? 
Their  first  departure  from  sound  principles  in  join- 
ing the  order,  involves  subsequent  delinquencies  to 
conceal  it,  and  make  it  effectual.  If  trade  and 
commerce  require  good  faith  and  sincerity  in  those 
who  follow  those  callings,  how  much  more  are 
they  indispensable  among  those  who  are  acting  for 
the  public,  and  whose  conduct  may  influence  for 
years  their  country’s  welfare. 

It  is  to  be  expected,  with  absolute  certainty, 
that  an  institution  thus  organized , and  pursuing 
such  purposes,  will  be  despotic,  will  trample  all 
those  sacred  rights,  which  the  contrivers  of  the 
order,  and  those  who  profit  by  the  delusion,  pre- 
tend it  was  established  to  secure.  This  is  one  of 
the  wicked  consequences  which  the  most  untu- 
tored sagacity  could  not  fail  to  predict.  But  all 
that  could  be  anticipated  is  more  than  realized  by 
the  declarations  of  the  Brooklyn  council,  which  I 
find  in  the  New  York  Herald,  a paper  friendly  to 
the  order,  and  which  treats  the  whole  proceeding 
as  authentic. 

“ Whereas  the  action  of  the  Grand  Council  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  at  their  late  session  in  October  last,  in 
making  an  independent  nomination  for  State  officers  with- 
out instructions  to  that  effect  from  the  subordinate  councils 
of  the  State,  and  without  giving  them  an  opportunity  to 
participate  in  the  selection  of  such  candidates,  and  when 
no  necessity  existed  for  such  a course,  inasmuch  as  good 
men  and  true  had  already  been  nominated  by  the  great 
political  parties  of  the  State,  the  nomination  of  some  of 
whom  was  effe'cted  by  the  direct  action  of  this  order,  was  i 
a departure  from  the  true  interests  and  objects  of  this  order, 
an  unwarrantable  assumption  of  power,  and  in  direct  vio- 
lation of  resolutions  adopted  by  the  same  Grand  Council  in 
June  last ; 

“ And  whereas  the  said  Grand  Council  adopted  resolu- 
tions presented  by  Chauncey  Shaffer,  putting  an  unwar- 
rantable and  ex  post  facto  construction  upon  the  obligations 
of  the  members  of  this  order,  thereby  endeavoring  to  coerce 
and  compel  them,  by  threats  and  penalties,  to  vote  for 
the  candidates  so  nominated  by  said  Grand  Council,  in 
direct  violation  of  the  Constitution  and  laws  of  the  laud, 


and  subversive  of  the  genius  and  spirit  of  our  republican 
institutions ; 

“And  whereas  the  said  Grand  Council,  at  their  recent 
session,  adopted  a resolution  originally  suggested  by  H.  A. 
T.Granbury,  requiring  the  members  of  this  order,  under 
certain  pains  and  penalties,  to  confess,  under  oath,  how 
they  voted  at  the  recent  election,  in  palpable  violation  of 
the  rights  and  privileges  secured  to,  and  so  highly  prized 
by,  every  true  American  : Therefore, 

“ Resolved , That  we  repudiate  and  condemn  the  afore- 
mentioned action  ofthe  Grand  Council  as  anti  American, 
anti  republican,  and  the  most  unwarrantable,  abom- 
inable, and  DANGEROUS  ASSUMPTION  of  DESPOTIC  power 
ever  attempted  in  this  Republic;  in  its  confessional, 
penance,  and  threats  of  excommunication,  only  equaled 
by  the  holy  Inquisition  of  Spain,  and  only  worthy  of  imi- 
tation by  the  grand  council  of  Cardinals  at  Rome. 

“ Resolved,  That  any  American,  assenting  or  yielding 
obedience  to  such  degrading  and  inquisitorial  requisitions, 
inherits  not  the  spirit  of  his  revolutionary  sires,  and  is 
unworthy  the  name  of  a son  of  ’76,  and  descends  to  the 
level  of  an  ignorant  Papist. 

“ Resolved,  That  we  recommend  our  brethren  to  pause 
and  calmly  reflect  before  they  aid  in  centralizing  so  danger- 
ous a power  in  the  hands  of  a body  who,  however  pure 
they  may  now  be,  may,  at  some  future  time,  be  composed 
of  unprincipled  men  who,  regardless  ofthe  public  interests, 
will  wield  it  for  their  own  personal  aggrandizement. 

“C.  J.  SHEl’ARD,  President. 

“ W.  C.  Heaton,  Secretary.” 

Thus,  the  council,  not  satisfied  with  the  oath 
that  required  each  member  to  vote  for  the  nominee 
of  the  order,  attempts  to  impose  a new  one,  to 
discover  whether  the  first  was  violated,  with  the 
penalty  of  disgraceful  expulsion  to  each  mem- 
ber who  confesses  that  he  voted  any  other  than 
the  regular  ticket.  Mark  in  what  language  the 
Brooklyn  council  describes  the  iniquitous  inter- 
ference with  the  rights  of  suffrage.  See  how  it 
quotes  the  precedents  of  Roman  Papish  oppres- 
sion to  stigmatize  their  own  brethren,  united  with 
themselves  in  a crusade  against  the  freedom  of 
suffrage,  the  freedom  of  conscience,  and  the  equal- 
ity of  the  citizens.  If  you,  sir,  or  I, had  used  such 
terms,  it  might  be  said  that  we  were  denouncing 
what  we  did  not  understand,  but  coming  from 
those  who  know  the  purposes  and  the  system  of 
the  order,  and  who  have  smarted  under  the  rod  of 
its  intolerance,  who  have  tasted  the  first  fruits  of 
this  graft  of  their  own  culture,  it  may  be  received 
as  true. 

It  has  been  claimed,  in  support  of  the  order,  that 
both  of  the  old  parties  are  corrupt,  and  that  it  was 
necessary  to  form  a new  party,  of  purer  principles 
and  better  material.  An  architect  who  should 
pronounce  both  of  two  buildings  which  he  had 
examined,  unsound  and  unsafe,  in  structure  and. 
detail,  would  hardly  be  thought  reliable  if  he 
should  attempt  to  construct  another  edifice  of  the 
brick  and  stone  which  he  had  just  condemned  as 
useless  and  unworthy.  Yet  this  order  assumes  to 
form,  out  of  the  corrupt  members  of  the  old  par- 
ties, a society  of  immaculate  patriots.  A few  of 
the  old  partisans  get  together  and  rate  themselves 
above  reproach,  and  then  adopt  such  other  citi- 
zens, members  of  the  old  corrupt  parties,  as  are 
willing  to  unite  in  asserting  the  knavery  of  all  other 
men,  and  their  own  purity.  This  Pharisaical 
assumption  of  superiority  is  worthy  of  all  rebuke 
and  contempt.  When  I weigh  the  characters, 
when  I ponder  upon  the  course  of  those  understood 
to  be  of  this  new  faith,  I confess  I find  little  to 
mortify  my  self-esteem  or  extort  my  admiration. 
I find  them  to  be  but  as  other  men,  having  like 
infirmities  as  ourselves,  neither  purer  nor  wiser, 
nor  more  patriotic,  than  their  fellow-citizens.  I 
discover  in  them  quite  as  much  lust  of  place  and 


6 


pelf,  quite  as  much  resignation  in  allowing  the 
weight  of  office  to  be  thrust  upon  themselves,  and  | 
to  the  full  as  much  of  partisan  and  uncharitable 
feeling  as  others  who  affect  a less  degree  of  ex-  j 
emption  from  the  ordinary  frailties  of  their  race.  | 
Those  of  this  order  supposed  to  be  in  this  House,  j 
I must  say,  in  all  courtesy,  I cannot  rank  one  whit : 
above  the  average  of  their  fellow  members,  in  the 
qualities  of  citizens  or  legislators.  Self-canonized 
saints,  and  self-elected  patriots,  are  of  questionable 
stuff.  There  is  a spontaneous  distrust  of  the 
assumption  that  arrogates  to  itself  a Benjamin’s 
portion  of  the  common  stock  of  human  virtue  and 
excellence;  and  the  claim  of  imposters  is  usually 
extensive  in  proportion  as  it  is  groundless. 

In  a free  Government , I hold , sir , that  there  is  no  j 
right  in  a portion  of  the  people,  whether  a minority  or  | 
a majority,  to  adopt  a secret  political  policy,  nr  pursue 
it  by  secret  means.  The  Commonwealth  is  the  j 
joint  product  of  the  thoughts  and  wills  of  the  ; 
people  who  compose  it.  They  have  risked  their  j 
mutual  interests  in  a common  venture.  Counsel.  | 
and  service  are  due  from  each  to  all.  Whatever 
pertains  tto  the  common  benefit  is  the  proper  sub- 
ject of  mutual  deliberation.  The  thoughts  and  j 
reflection  of  each  are  proper  tribute  to  the  com-  i 
mon  fund  of  knowledge;  and  when  contributed 
and  weighed,  the  deliberate  judgment  of , the  so- 
ciety becomes  the  rule  of  action  to  the  members, 
both  as  to  what  purposes  of  common  good  they 
shall  pursue,  and  how  they  shall  accomplish  it. 

I,  as  a member  of  society,  may  justly  expect  its 
protection  in  every  right  which  the  laws  or  the 
Constitution  give  me — protection  not  only  against 
foreign  invasion,  but  also  against  domestic  vio- 
lence; against  the  man  who  assaults  my  person, 
or  wrests  my  property  from  me;  but  not  a whit 
less  against  those  who,  by  means  of  secret  cabals, 
midnight  assemblages,  unnatural  oaths,  and  mali- 
cious combinations,  would  peril,  impair,  or  destroy 
any  one  of  my  civil  or  political  rights.  Society 
can  only  protect  me,  can  only  protect  itself  against 
the  effects  of  these  secret  political  associations,  by 
extirpating  them.  They  are  the  fruits  and  the  off- 
spring of  revolution ; they  are  the  storm-birds  that 
portend  the  tempest,  and  make  it  horrible;  but 
putrid  bodies  which  the  thunder  of  anarchy  lifts 
from  the  deep  in  which  they  slumbered. 

All  citizens,  I think,  sir,  are  under  obligations 
of  candor  and  sincerity  towards  each  other  in 
matters  political.  I think  the  very  nature  of  a 
free  Government  requires  it  of  them.  The  ballot  | 
of  each  voter  is  intended  to  be  secret  only  so  far 
as  to  protect  him  against  violence,  or  any  undue 
influence  in  preparing  and  casting  it.  This  right 
to  absolute  freedom  in  performing  this  high  civil 
act,  is  not  clearer  than  the  corresponding  obli- 
gation of  every  other  man  to  refrain  from  all 
attempts  to  disturb,  oppress,  or  intimidate  him  in  j 
the  exercise  of  it.  But  when  the  ballot  is  put  j : 
into  the  box,  it  ceases  to  be  a mere  private  act,  j 
and  becomes  a part  of  the  public  history.  An  j 
attempt  at  concealment  provokes  inquiry,  and  j 
justifies  it.  There  can  be  but  two  reasons  for  [ 
keeping  a vote  secret — timidity,  if  we  think  our- 
selves right,  or  shame  and  conscious  guilt,  if  we  | 
believe  ourselves  wrong.  And  a man  must  be  j 
deficient  in  some  of  the  better  qualities  of  citizen- 
ship,  who  is  willing  to  assign  either  of  them  as  an  * 
excuse  for  a secret  vote.  And  the  motives  that  I 
prompt  the  vote,  since  he  has  no  right  to  be  il 


I influenced  by  any  but  those  of  the  public  good, 
i are  also  proper  subjects  of  inquiry,  and  if  the  voter 
be  a man,  of  free  and  truthful  answer.  No  man  ever 
cast  a secret  vote,  even  if  his  purpose  were  as 
kindly  a one  as  to  avoid  making  a preference 
between  rival  friends,  but  felt  his  self-respect 
lowered,  and  that  he  had  not  acted  up  to  the  full 
I dignity  of  citizenship.  There  is,  and  there  should 
be,  no  penalty  attached  to  the  exercise  of  the  right 
of  voting,  but  the  estimate  which  the  public  may 
attach  to  a man’s  character,  according  as  he  is 
thought  to  have  used  his  privilege  well  or  ill.  It 
is  simply  an  item  going  to  make  up  the  aggregate 
of  character.  Nor  should  there  be  laws  compel- 
ing  him  to  declare  how  he  voted ; in  free  countries, 
the  great  mass  of  men  being  independent,  in  fact, 
as  well  as  name,  will  spurn  concealment  in  the 
matter;  and  I do  not  know,  in  all  history,  of  more 
than  one  inquisitorial  attempt,  by  an  ex  post  facto 
law,  to  compel  the  citizen  to  declare  for  whom  he 
had  voted;  and  this  attempt,  so  tyrannical,  was 
made,  not  by  foreigners,  who,  ignorant  of  the 
genius  of  republicanism,  might,  unconsciously, 
have  violated  its  principles;  nor  by  the  old  parties 
of  the  country  who,  immersed  in  senility  and 
corruption,  might  be  indifferent  to  the  forms  of 
liberty,  but  by  the  conclave  of  patriots  who  assem- 
bled in  New-York  as  a Know  Nothing  Council, 
representatives  of  those  who  are  to  regenerate 
America;  who,  mourning  the  decay  of  public 
spirit,  and  the  corruption  of  national  virtue,  have, 
by  self  election,  and  the  imposition  of  their  own  hands , 
set  themselves  apart  for  the  work  of  reforma- 
tion. I have  said,  and  I repeat  it,  that  I think 
there  is  the  strongest  obligation  among  freemen 
to  be  open  and  candid  in  all  political  matters. 
Among  slaves,  or  those  who  approach  the  ser- 
vile condition,  even  though  they  have  the  forms 
of  freedom,  secrecy  is  to  be  expected.  But  its 
use  is  an  unwholesome  regimen  for  the  growth 
and  nurture  of  the  manly  virtues.  I am  sure, 
sir,  you  would  hardly  be  willing  to  continue  a 
privatepartnership — and  society  has  often,  and  not 
inaptly,  in  many  important  respects,  been  likened 
to  one — in  which  you  knew  a portion  of  the  part- 
ners had  formed  a secret  league,  in  reference  to 
partnership  business,  confirmed  by  oaths,  guarded 
by  mysterious  ciphers,  grips  of  the  hand,  pass- 
words, signs  of  recognition,  and  all  the  machinery 
of  secrecy  by  which  the  men  of  disorder  have,  from 
time  immemorial,  guarded  their  schemes  against^ 
the  peace  and  the  welfare  of  society;  I am  sure 
you  would  be  justified  in  the  suspicion  that  your 
rights  were  very  insecure,  and  in  taking  prompt 
steps  for  their  preservation.  And  yet  we,  sir, 
the  people  of  a free  country,  are  told  that  there  is 
a political  association  in  our  midst,  secret  as  the 
grave,  except  when  accident  has  betrayed  it,  and 
as  inexorable  in  the  proscription  of  all  not  con- 
nected with  it.  If  your  rights  are  safe  from  it  to- 
day, will  they  be  so  to-morrow;  or  from  some  secret 
association  to  be  formed  next  week  ? If  the 
right  to  create  such  is  recognized  now,  how  can 
it  be  denied  in  future,  when  other  isms  will  be  seek- 
ing the  aid  of  secrecy  to  accomplish  their  schemes, 
or  wreak  their  revenge?  Free  Governments  are 
controlled  greatly  by  precedents  and  general  rules, 
and  if,  for  a temporary  purpose,  or  a scanty  good, 
you  abandon  wholesome  principles,  you  have 
broken  down  the  most  effectual  barriers  against 
despotism. 


7 


Public. opinion  is  one  of  the  most  efficient  re- 
straints on  human  action.  The  punishments  of 
this  world  seem,  with  but  too  many,  more  terri- 
ble than  the  retribution  of  that  which  is  to  come. 
The  criticism,  the  censure  of  men  often  restrain 
evil-disposed  persons,  and  an  enlightened  public 
opinion  guides  and  sustains  the  virtue  of  individ- 
uals. We  find  the  action  of  political  parties  is 
purest  when  it  is  most  under  the  public  eye;  and 
as  the  veil  of  secrecy  is  thrown  about  it,  there  is 
a culpable  laxity  of  conduct.  A private  caucus, 
though  there  is  no  obligation  of  secrecy,  is  thought 
less  free  from  corruption  than  a public  convention. 
Meetings,  of  which  there  is  no  record  but  the  un- 
safe memory  of  those  present,  are  likely  to  be  less 
judicious  than  those  in  which  every  thing  is  re- 
corded and  published.  A railroad,  or  other  cor- 
poration directory,  which  gives  its  proceedings  no 
publicity  in  a twelvemonth,  is  the  subject  of  dis- 
trust, and  too  often  falls  into  downright  knavery. 
These  things  we  all  see  and  know;  and  yet  it  is 
maintained  that  it  is  possible  for  an  association, 
secret,  irresponsible,  its  members  unknown,  and 
denying  their  connection  with  it,  to  select  its  can- 
didates and  elect  them,  and  to  control  the  Govern- 
ment of  a great  country  without  danger  to  the 
rights  of  the  people,  or  of  corruption  among  the 
members.  Where  this  secrecy  begins,  freedom 
ends.  When  the  streets  of  Paris  streamed  with 
blood;  when  the  guillotine  was  the  only  engine 
whose  activity  was  not  palsied  by  the  general  ter- 
ror that  pervaded  the  land,  the  orders  that  plunged 
France  into  such  frightful  calamities  issued  from 
the  midnight,  secret,  irresponsible  association  of 
the  Jacobins.  A career  that  begins  in  religious  and 
political  proscription  may  well  end,  like  theirs, 
with  the  lamp-post  and  the  guillotine. 

These  new  political  doctors  object  to  the  secrecy 
which  prevails  in  an  ordinary  convention,  yet  se- 
crecy is  not  the  rule,  but  the  exception,  in  such 
assemblies.  They  know  that  the  corruption  which 
attends  them  is  proportioned  to  the  privacy  witl) 
which  they  are  conducted;  that  men  commit  acts 
in  the  safety  of  midnight  caucuses,  which  they 
would  not  dare  in  the  light  of  day,  and  the  remedy 
they  offer  is  an  association  in  which  all  is  caucus, 
all  secrecy,  all  irresponsibility.  The  evil  excep- 
tion which  they  denounce  in  others,  they  adopt 
as  the  rule  of  their  own  conduct.  1 f a little  secrecy 
works  such  harm  in  ordinary  politics,  what  must 
the  whole  machinery  of  oaths,  and  grips,  and  pass 
words,  do  for  this  new  association.  I believe  it 
will  work  everywhere,  as  it  has  wrought  in  the 
instance  of  the  New  York  Council  already  quoted, 
its  abundant  harvest  of  tyranny,  deceit,  and  per- 
jury. The  order  employs  more  secrecy  in  a single 
night  than  is  used  in  preparing  and  conducting 
both  the  national  conventions  of  the  Whigs  and 
Democrats.  How,  then,  can  this  terrible  poison 
fail  to  work  its  natural  effect  of  corruption  on 
them.  Perhaps,  on  the  principle  that  one  poison 
sometimes  neutralizes  another,  the  proscription 
and  intolerance  which  they  swear  to  practice  are 
an  antidote  to  the  secrecy  which  is  found  neces- 
sary in  accomplishing  their  purposes.  . 

The  first  avowed  purpose  of  the  order  which  I 
shall  discuss  is  the  exclusion  of  foreigners  from 
office.  The  pledge  of  the  member  on  entering  the 
order  is,  that  “ he  will  not  vote,  or  give  his  influ- 
ence, for  any  man  for’any  office  in  the  gift  of  the 
people,  unless  he  be  an  American- born  citizen.”  j 


A judicious  man, it  seems  to  me,  will  hardly  deny 
that  it  is  equally  criminal  to  do,  by  indirection, 
as  to  do  openly,  that  which  we  are  forbidden 
under  the  Constitution.  That  instrument  provides 
that  no  man  shall  be  a Senator  in  Congress  who 
“shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age  of  thirty 
years,  and  been  nine  years  a citizen  of  the  Uni- 
ted States,”  &c.;  that  no  man  shall  be  a Repre- 
sentative “ who  shall  not  have  attained  to  the  age 
of  twenty-five  years,  and  been  seven  years  a citi- 
zen of  the  United  States, ”&c.,  (art.  1,  sec.  2 and 
3.)  These  clauses  of  the  Constitution  confer  on 
alien-born  citizens  a complete  eligibility  to  seats 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  Senate,  when 
the  respective  periods  of  age  and  citizenship  have 
been  completed,  as  upon  native-born  citizens.  No 
man  will  deny  that  Congress  possesses  no  power 
to  add,  by  law,  to  the  age  or  period  of  citizenship 
fixed  by  the  Constitution,  and  that  such  a law 
would  be  unconstitutional  and  void.  Any  attempt 
to  do  so  would  be  an  assault  upon  a right  which 
the  framers  of  the  Constitution  thought  of  suffi- 
cient importance  to  guard  by  a special  provision, 
and  I can  see  no  distinction  in  justice  between 
attempting  to  rob  them  of  the  rights  by  a law  and 
by  a secret  association.  The  first  is  the  bolder 
and  manlier  way  of  assault.  The  men  who  do 
the  injury  in  that  case  are  known  and  responsi- 
ble; they  hold  themselves  amenable  to  criticism, 
to  discussion,  and  to  the  public  judgment.  They 
plant  themselves  upon  the  merit  of  their  action, 
and  not  upon  the  force  of  numbers  and  the  chances 
of  escape  from  detection.  All  men  admire  candor 
and  sincerity  in  political  as  well  as  other  conduct. 
Until  now  all  Americans  despised  secret  political 
associations,  midnight  juggling,  and  the  hatred 
that  would  strike,  and  yet  fear  to  avow  the  blow. 

There  is  no  obligation,  in  my  judgment,  to  vote 
for  a foreigner  to  any  office  more  than  for  any 
other  citizen ; but  there  is  an  obligation  not  to  form 
a combination  against  him  by  which  he  is  to  be 
disfranchised,  or  stinted  in  the  enjoyment  of  any 
constitutional  right. 

If  it  be  true  that  foreigners  are  less  fit  for  office 
than  native  citizens,  it  is  a gross  distrust  of  the 
national  common  sense  to  suppose  the  people  will 
not  act  upon  it,  and  a poor  commentary  upon  pub- 
lic spirit,  that  special  oaths,  and  the  terrors  of  a 
secret  inquisition  are  needed  to  urge  them  up  to 
the  discharge  of  an  obvious  duty.  I cannot  but 
believe  that  true  policy  and  justice  are,  in  this  case, 
harmonious.  These  foreigners  are  in  our  midst; 
they  have  come  under  our  invitation,  and  have 
trusted  to  the  liberal  spirit  of  the  age,  and  the  gen- 
erous provisions  of  our  laws  and  Constitution, 
and  our  purpose  should  be,  by  acting  up  to  the 
full  measure  of  good  faith,  to  encourage  them  to 
the  highest  standard  of  republican  citizenship. 
They  are  citizens,  with  the  right  to  vote,  and 
policy  dictates  that  they  should  be  so  treated  as 
soonest  to  nationalize  them,  that  the  peculiarities 
of  their  birth,  education, language,  and  ideas  may 
be  lost  in  the  character  of  our  own  people.  There 
is  no  safety  in  a course  that  excludes  them  from 
any  right  which  is  theirs  by  the  Constitution  and 
laws,  and  which  induces  them,  from  wounded 
pride,  to  perpetuate  the  distinctions  which  separate 
them  from  the  native-born  citizens. 

To  a foreigner  of  just  self-respect,  the  equality 
implied  in  voting,  and  the  right  to  be  elected  to 
every  office,  even  though  he  may  never  desire  any, 


8 


is  one  of  the  strongest  ties  that  can  bind  him  in 
love  and  interest  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Republic. 
And  if,  at  any  time,  it  becomes  necessary  to  dis- 
franchise him  of  either,  in  the  name  of  manhood, 
and  justice,  and  republicanism,  let  it  be  done  in 
the  open  light  of  Heaven,  let  it  be  done  with  the 
forms,  the  sanction,  and  the  solemnity  of  a na- 
tional act,  and  let  him  not  feel  himself  the  victim 
of  a nameless  persecution,  tried,  condemned,  and 
punished,  unheard,  in  the  hateful  manner  of  the 
inquisition,  by  those  who  blush  to  avow  their 
connection  with  the  deed.  Justice  would  teach  us 
that  foreigners  should  receive  a share  of  offices 
proportioned  to  their  number,  if  the  subject  be- 
comes a matter  of  mathematical  division;  but  it 
would  be  more  fortunate  for  the  peace  of  the 
country  if  the  question  of  nativity  and  religion 
were  never  raised,  and  if  selections  to  office  were 
made  according  as  Mr.  Jefferson’s  strong  ques- 
tions are  answered,  “ Is  he  honest?  Is  he  compe- 
tent ? Is  he  faithful  to  the  Constitution  ?” 

Second.  The  extension  of  the  term  of  natural- 
ization to  twenty-one  years,  or  some  other  period 
longer  than  five  years. 

When  our  country  was  weak,  and  there  was 
apprehension  that  we  might  be  attacked  by  for- 
eign Powers,  anxiety  was  felt  to  secure  an  influx 
of  immigration.  The  time  for  that  apprehension  is 
past.  I,  sir,  as  an  individual,  have  never  cherished 
or  expressed  the  anxiety  which  I have  witnessed  in 
others,  to  see  our  country  goaded  into  premature 
growth  and  population;  though  I have  rejoiced  to 
see  those  who  came  here,  either  from  choice  or  to 
escape  oppression,  sitting,  in  due  time,  at  the  na- 
tional board,  and  sharing  equally  the  abundance 
of  our  unstinted  hospitality.  The  vision  of  a 
splendid  Government,  which  has  such  fascination 
for  many,  to  me  is  without  a charm.  I know 
that  its  magnificence,  the  pomp  of  its  officials,  the 
number  and  equipment  of  its  fleets  and  armies, 
are  but  so  much  wrung  from  the  scanty  subsist- 
ence of  labor.  Wherever  I witness  the  reckless 
pageantry  of  wealth,  I know  that  the  gaunt  shadow 
of  poverty  is  near  by.  I doubt  if  our  rapid 
increase  in  numbers,  in  wealth,  and  power,  how- 
ever gratifying  to  our  pride,  have  been  attended 
with  a proportionate  increase  of  those  robust  and 
homely  virtues,  on  which  alone  permanent  na- 
tional greatness  is  founded.  It  is  the  effect’  of 
great  and  sudden  prosperity  to  disturb  the  ordi- 
nary action  of  the  public  mind,  and  to  introduce 
false  and  deceptive  standards  of  conduct.  The 
whole  nature  of  man  runs  wild,  in  a variety  of 
excesses,  and  this  inundation  of  prosperity  sweeps 
away  many  of  the  established  and  respected  land- 
marks. Seasons,  such  as  these,  try  the  national 
character  more  than  whole  years  of  calamity. 
This  has  produced  that  exuberance  of  intellectual 
movement,  that  redundance  of  activity,  that  Egyp- 
tian fecupdity  of  isms,  which  distinguish  our 
country  to-day.  At  such  times,  a recurrence  to 
honored  and  established  principles  is  the  most 
wholesome  regimen  for  the  public  mind. 

I believe,  sir,  it  had  been  better  for  us  if  we 
had  never  received,  since  our  independence,  more 
foreigners  than  could  be  readily  assimilated  to  the 
general  condition  and  character  of  our  native-born 
population.  I do  not  question  that  the  inter- 
mingling of  races  here  is  one  potent  element  of 
our  growth  and  success.  Those  nations  have 
been  foremost  in  the  world’s  history  whose  char- 


acters have  been  the  amalgam  of  the  greatest 
variety  of  the  best  races  of  the  earth.  A constant 
immigration  of  enough  to  produce  variety,  but 
not  to  perpetuate  diversity,  would,  1 believe,  con- 
tribute to  preserve  and  increase  our  vigor.  But  I 
wish  to  see  no  foreign  settlements  in  our  country; 
no  papers,  schools,  and  school-books  in  a foreign 
tongue;  no  regions  of  country  in  which  a traveler 
might  fancy  himself  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine,  or 
the  green  sward  of.Ireland.  I desire  our  people  to 
be  homogenous  in  language  and  institutions;  I 
would  have  the  first  generation  of  foreigners  to 
be  the  last,  their  children  I would  have  American 
in  tongue,  in  education,  in  principle, and  in  law. 

It  is  said  that  this  extension  is  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  abuses  of  the  present  system. 

These  abuses  are  chiefly  through  false  naturali- 
zation papers,  and  false  swearing.  They  exist,  I 
am  inclined  to  think,  less  through  any  defect  in 
the  present  laws  than  through  the  defect  in  their 
enforcement.*  The  use  of  false  naturalization 
papers,  illegal  voting,  and  the  perjury  attendant 
upon  both,  are  offenses  against  the  laws  of  the 
State  where  they  are  committed;  and  it  is  to  the 
State  tribunals  that  the  citizens  must  look  for 
redress,  and  the  vindication  of  their  rights.  There 
is  no  ground,  none  whatever,  to  believe  that  grand 
(juries  would  be  more  active  to  find  indictments 
| under  a new  law  than  under  the  old  one,  nor  that 
pettit  juries  would  be  more  prompt  to  convict. 

It  is  useless  to  cumber  the  statute-book  with 
laws  which  there  is  not  the  public  virtue  to 
enforce.  No  lawjcan  execute  itself;  it  must  have 
the  agency  of  man  to  administer  it,  and  it  is  use- 
less to  attempt  to  make  the  barbarous  severity  of 
the  statute  atone  for  the  apathy  of  the  people.  If 
it  could  be  shown  that  the  present  law  had  been 
faithfully  tried,  and  found  inefficient,  there  would 
be  ample  reason  to  ask  the  enactment  of  new  laws. 
But  there  is  no  such  proof.  On  the  contrary,  it 
is  known  that  if  offenses  are  frequent,  as  is 
charged,  indictments  are  few,  and  convictions  still 
more  unfrequent.  If  the  evil  exists  in  the  mag- 
nitude describe'd,  if  offenses  are  so  many  and  pun- 
ishments so  rare,  the  root  of  the  evil  would  seem 
to  lie  deeper  than  an  imperfect  statute.  It  cannot 
lie  in  the  law  merely,  for  that  would  be  pointed  out 
and  remedied;  nor  in  the  officers  of  the  law,  the 
juries,  the  attorneys,  and  the  judges,  for  a whole- 
some public  opinion  would  impel  them  to  the  dis- 
charge of  their  duty;  but  it  lies  deeper;  I fear  it 
lies  in  a corrupted  public  sentiment.  Individuals 
dislike  the  labor  and  inconvenience  with  which  a 
prosecution  is  attended,  and  after  an  ebullition  of 
temper,  and  a few  newspaper  paragraphs  upon 


* Since  the  above  was  spoken  I have  seen  a recent  de- 
cision of  Judge  Dean,  of  the  supreme  court  of  New  York, 
on  the  administration  of  the  naturalization  laws.  He 
remarks:  £‘  Those  courts,  instead  of  administering  this 
law,  (of  naturalization,)  have,  by  their  negligence  and  in- 
attention, practically  repealed  it,  ad  mining  thousands  to  the 
rights  of  citizenship,  who  want  all  the  requisites  to  entitle 
them  to  such  admission  ; have  been  guilty  of  a gross  viola- 
tion of  duty,  and  have  made  the  law  itself  odious  in  public 
estimation.” 

“ The  man  who  would  collect  and  embody  in  a single 
act,  the  operative  portions  of  the  various  statutes  on  this 
subject,  with  such  amendments  as  experience  has  shown 
are  necessary  to  their  due  and  faithful  execution,  would  be 
a public  benefactor.” 

“ When  that  is  done,  and  the  laws  are  administered  in 
their  purity,  it  will  be  apparent  that  the  faults  have  been 
I far  more  in  the  administration  than  in  the  laws  them- 
I selves.” 


.9 


election  frauds,  the  matter  is  allowed  to  drop. 
Another  reason,  perhaps,  quite  as  effectual,  is 
that  both  parties  in  the  cities  have  been  engaged 
in  the  disreputable  work  of  procuring  fraudulent 
votes,  and  each  fears  to  provoke  inquiry  into  its 
own  conduct,  by  attempting  to  expose  the  crimes 
of  the  other.  But  even  if  all  the  illegal  voting  com- 
plained of  were  confined  to  foreigners,  by  whom  is 
the  temptation  to  commit  the  offense  offered?  Cer- 
tainly by  our  own  native  citizens;  and  it  seems 
strange  that  the  whole  indignation  is  visited  upon 
the  foreigner,  who  is  denounced  as  “ ignorant  and 
corrupt,”  and  scarcely  a censure  is  bestowed  upon 
the  native  who  debauched  him,  and  who,  I sup- 
pose, by  contrast,  is  to  be  regarded  as  “intelli- 
gent and  virtuous.  ” 

But,  Mr.  Chairman,  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
cause  of  the  evil,  which  is  ascribed  to  the  immi- 
gration of  foreigners,  may  be  justly  sought  for 
even  further  back  than  the  condition  of  public 
sentiment  where  it  exists.  As  a State  becomes 
more  refined  and  populous,  the  disparity  in  the 
condition  of  the  people  becomes  greater.  The 
inequalities  of  wealth  and  social  advantages  are 
more  obvious;  the  rich  become  richer,  and  the  poor 
poorer.  If  there  be  any  method  of  preventing  this  j 
result,  political  philosophy  has  not  yet  announced  ! 
it;  and  the  evil  has  begun  to  be  felt  in  this  country 
in  our  large  cities.  There  is,  in  all  of  them,  a por- 
tion of  the  community  ,Nhappily  for  us  yet  small, 
who  are  sunk  in  vice  and  ignorance.  As  the  pop- 
ulation becomes  denser,  there  will  be  accessions 
constantly  to  the  number,  and  in  due  time  there 
will  exist  a class  in  this  country,  as  in  the  Old 
World,  in  which  vice,  and  crime,  and  destitution 
will  be  the  hereditary  condition.  It  is  from  this 
class,  and  those  who  approach  its  condition,  that 
the  material  for  fraudulent  voting  is  drawn.  In 
agricultural  regions,  where  the  means  of  living 
are  cheap  and  abundant,  it  is  almost  unknown; 
but,  as  a rule,  I believe  the  evil  will  be  found  to 
increase  in  exact  proportion  with  the  density  of 
the  population.  So  far  as  this  class  exists  in  our  J 
midst,  a large  share  of  it,  I believe,  will  be  found 
among  the  foreign  population;  because  they  con- 
gregate about  the  cities,  where  the  vice  of  proleta- 
rianism  mainly  flourishes,  and  because  the  native 
population,  from  its  superior  intelligence  and 
familiarity  with  the  mode  of  life  here,  has  retained 
the  more  lucrative  occupations,  leaving  to  the  for- 
eigner the  humbler  and  cheaper  ones,  and  those 
which  are  first  to  suffer  from  revulsions  in  trade 
and  commerce.  Population  and  production  march 
on  closely  together;  there  will  not,  for  any  great 
length  of  time,  be  a wide  disparity  between  the 
supply  of  food  and  the  number  of  people  to  con- 
sume it.  And  when  the  amount  produced  and 
that  requisite  for  consumption  are  about  equal,  a 
slight  decrease  of  the  former,  or  of  the  supply  of 
labor  by  which  it  is  to  be  produced , results  in  pov- 
erty and  starvation.  Such  is  the  state  of  things] 
in  the  greater  part  of  Europe.  Such , in  a mitigated 
form,  is  getting  to  be  the  condition  of  our  larger 
cities.  The  accounts  of  the  destitution  now  pre- 
vailing in  some  of  them,  among  the  honest  and 
industrious,  and  the  gloomy  anticipations  of  the 
comingwinter,  are  heart-rending.  Yet  Government 
has  not  aaused  it;  the  tariff  has  not  caused  it;  for-  J 
eigners  have  not  caused  it;  nor  even  the  present! 
war,  though  that  event  may  have  precipitated  it.  !j 
It  is  the  effect  of  those  mutations  which  are  the  [| 


inevitable  condition  of  existence,  and  which  are 
brought  about  by  the  whole  variety  of  those  per- 
plexed causes  which  have  produced  that  result 
which  we  call  the  “ present  state  of  things.”  Our 
very  prosperity  has  been  as  effective  in  bringing 
it  about,  as  any  other  cause.  High  excitements 
in  the  commercial  world  are  always  followed  by 
periods  of  languor  and  depression,  and  the  sugges- 
tions of  quacks,  and  their  still  more  dangerous 
remedies,  are  alike  to  be  discarded.  Republican 
institutions  can  protect  us  against  unjust  legisla- 
tion, oppresive  taxes,  and  guilty  wars,  but  they 
cannot  secure  us  against  the  inexorable  laws  of 
trade,  commerce,  and  manufactures.  It  is,  then, 
unjust  to  ascribe  to  transient  causes  evils  which 
appear  inseparable  from  the  structure  of  civilized 
society. 

But,  sir,  if  all  these  evils  were  the  result  of  fraud- 
ulent voting,  how  would  the  mischief  be  remedied 
by  extending  the  period  of  probation  from  five  to 
twenty-one  years?  If.  five  years’  delay  is  so  irk- 
some that  the  foreigner  will  risk  the  penalties  of 
fraudulent  voting  and  perjury  to  escape  it,  it  seems 
to  me  the  temptation  would  be  multiplied  four- 
fold by  increasing  the  delay  to  twenty-one  years. 

So  far  as  the  extension  of  the  period  to  twenty- 
one  years  is  a sentiment,  a mere  gratification  of  a 
feeling,  or  a prejudice,  it  is  either  above  or  beneath 
reason,  but  as  a statesman’s  remedy  for  an  exist- 
ing abuse,  it  seems  entirely  incompetent  and 
unsatisfactory. 

The  laws  of  naturalization  I regard  as  I do  any 
other  laws— justly  open  to  revision  and  amend- 
ment. If  defects  of  any  importance  exist,  they 
ought  to  be  remedied  promptly;  and  I am  ready 
to  vote  for  all  such  changes  as  may  be  found  expe- 
dient. I am  satisfied,  after  listening  to  all  that  I 
can  hear  upon  the  subject,  to  let  the  period  of  five 
years  remain  in  the  statute;  yet,  I am  not  so 
wedded  to  that  time  that  I would  consider  any 
change  of  it  by  Congress  an  outrage  upon  the 
rights  of  foreigners,  or  upon  the  Constitution.  I4 
am  very  ready  to  hear  all  argumen  t upon  the  sub- 
ject; but,  so  far  as  I have  comprehended  the  evils 
under  which  we  are  said  to  labor,  1 find  no  adap- 
tation in  the  remedy  to  the  disease.  The  great 
evil  of  a foreign  population  is  hardly  noticed  in  the 
discussion,  and  the  changes  of  the  law  proposed, 
and  the  persecuting  creed  of  the  Know-Nothings, 
are  alike  trivial  when  compared  with  it.  The  mag- 
nitude of  the  evil  these  midnight  reformers  see, 
perhaps,  but  fear  to  grapple  with.  The  discussion 
of  it  is  too  portentous,  too  pregnant  with  the  high 
philosophy  of  races,  population,  and  government, 
to  be  handled  by  those  whose  whole  political 
pharmacy^is  persecution,  whose  highest  ambi- 
tion the  ejection  of  an  Irish  tide-waiter  from  his 
office,  and  the  summit  of  their  statesmanship  to 
combine  the  “ isms  ” that  are  out  against  the  Dem- 
ocrats who  are  in.  The  real  danger  is,  that  for- 
eigners will  congregate  in  some  States  of  the  Union 
in  such  numbers,  preserving  the  language,  man- 
ners, and  traditions  of  the  Old  World,  as  to  root 
out  the  native  population  speaking  the  English 
tongue,  and  that  we  may  come  to  be  a Confed- 
eracy of  States  as  foreign  in  origin,  in  language, 
customs,  institutions,  and  religion,  as  are  the  sev- 
eral nations  combined  by  force  under  the  sway  of 
the  Emperor  of  Austria,  or  the  Czar  of  Russia, 
j Nothing  can  tend  to  accomplish  this  more  speedily 
! than  proscription.  If  the  foreigner  finds  himself 


10 


one  of  a degraded  caste  while  living  among  the  j 
native  population,  he  will  naturally  seek  those  j 
regions  in  which  his  own  countrymen  are  numer-  , 
ous,and  a little  more  concentration  of  the  foreign  j 
population  in  some  of  the  northwestern  States  ! 
will  give  them  an  absolute  numerical  majority,  j 
and  insure  the  control  there.  Jn  such  an  event,  ! 
they  would,  of  course,  retaliate  the  proscription 
under  which  they  had  suffered;  they  would,  per- 1 
haps,  become  even  as  intolerant  as  the  Know-  ( 
Nothings,  and  permit  no  native-born  citizen,  nor  i 
the  son  of  a native,  to  vote  or  hold  office;  they  | 
would  send  naturalized  foreigners  to  represent  j 
them  here  in  both  Houses,  as  they  would  have  the 
constitutional  right  to  do;  they  would  have  their  |[ 
relative  weight  in  presidential  elections,  and  the! 
“ foreign  vote”  would  then  be  something  distinct  | 
and  palpable  for  politicians  to  intrigue  after.  No 
state  of  things  could  be  more  deplorable  than  the 
war  of  races,  of  which  this  order  is  the  beginning,  I 
and  if  it  be  not  crushed  at  once  by  the  honesty 
and  common  sense  of  the  people,  it  may  give  to  l 
our  history  a chapter  as  dark  and  bloody  as  that  J 
of  the  English  revolutions,  or  of  the  religious  j 
wars  of  the  Hugenots  and  Catholics  in  France. 
You  know,  sir,  that  this  is  the.  evil  to  be  dreaded  j 
in  the  future,  compared  to  which  all  German,  anti-  J 
Sabbath  societies,  Irish  riots,  illegal  voting,  and  j 
foreign  military  companies  sink  into  utter  insig- 
nificance, and  before  which,  as  remedies,  the  ex- 
tension of  the  term  of  naturalization  to  twenty-one 
years,  and  the  Know-Nothing  remedy  of  exclusion 
from  office,  are  but  as  bands  of  tow  to  devouring 
flames.  Neither  of  these  would  diminish  percept- 
ibly the  number  of  immigrants;  and,  while  the 
annual  supply  continues,  or  increases,  any  law 
which  tends  to  perpetuate  the  distinction  of  races 
will  only  make  the  ultimate  danger  more  formi- 
dable. 

The  duty  of  excluding  paupers,  vagrants,  con- 
victs, and  felons,  is  imperative;  and  if  the  evil  be 
as  great  as  is  charged,  the  only  surprise  is,  that 
we  have  allowed  a public  mischief  of  such  gravity 
to  exist  so  long.  Laws,  rigorous  and  effective, 
should  be  enacted,  if  such  are  not  now  on  the 
statute-book;  and  every  citizen  who  regards  the 
public  weal,  should  unite, heartily,  in  their  enforce- 
ment. 

The  third  remedy  proposed  is  the  repeal  of  the  j 
naturalization  laws.  Before  the  adoption  of  the 
Constitution,  each  State  passed  its  own  laws  upon 
this  subject,  and,  of  course,  there  was  great  diver- 
sity. To  obviate  this,  the  power  was  given  the 
Federal  Government  “ to  pass  uniform  naturaliza- 
tion laws.”  As  the  States  were  exercising  the 
power  to  naturalize  foreigners  when  they  gave  it 
up,  that  the  law  might  be  made  “ uniform,”  a 
failure  to  employ  it  by  Congress  would  induce  j 
them  to  exercise  all  the  rights  they  yet  have,  and 
which  are  very  considerable,  on  that  subject. 

Under  the  Constitution,  the  foreign  inhabitants,  | 
whether  naturalized  or  not,  are  enumerated  as  a 
part  of  the  basis  of  representation,  and  give  addi-  j 
tional  power  to  the  States  where  they  reside. 

The  effect  of  naturalization  is,  to  give  all  the 
rights  of  citizenship  at  once,  with  the  three  excep- 
tions enumerated  in  the  Constitution,  and  which 
I have  already  quoted. 

Though  the  rights  conferred  are  thus  ample,  it 
is  competent  for  the  States  to  bestow  nearly  all  of 
them  upon  the  unnaturalized  foreigner,  by  virtue 


of  their  State  sovereignty.  He  may  be  allowed  to 
vote  in  State  and  Federal  elections,  mayTae  allowed 
to  hold  and  to  transmit  real  estate,  and  may  be 
made  eligible  to  any  State  office.  But  these  rights 
would  not  be  recognized  in  other  States  except  by 
special  action.  In  every  State  where  similar  laws 
had  not  been  enacted,  he  would  be  in  the  position 
of  an  alien.  A law  of  Congress  is  required  to 
entitle  him  to  the  benefit  of  that  provision  of  the 
Constitution  contained  in  the 'first  paragraph  of 
article  fourth,  section  second: 

“The  citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all 
privileges  and  immunities  of  citizens  in  the  several  States.” 

Such  a man  would  not  be  “a  citizen”  of  the 
United  States,  though  he  might  be  enjoying  nearly 
all  the  rights  of  citizenship  in  a particular  State. 
The  right  to  vote,  which  appears  to  be  considered 
one  of  the  privileges  bestowed  by  naturalization, 
is  derive'd  from  another  source.  Each  State  can 
fix  the  qualification  of  its  own  voters,  can  enlarge 
or  contract  that  franchise  at  its  pleasure;  and  if  a 
State  should  deny  the  electoral  franchise  to  all 
persons  not  natives  of  it,  the  right  to  do  so,  I pre- 
sume, would  be  unquestioned. 

Thus  we  discover  that  even  the  repeal  of  the 
naturalization  laws  would  not  protect  us  from  the 
influx  of  foreigners,  nor  from  the  ill  effects  of  their 
voting,  in  case  any  of  the  States  see  fit  to  bestow 
that  right  upon  them;  and  if  the  naturalization 
laws  should  be  repealed,  or  the  term  extended  to 
twenty-one  years,  under  the  influence  of  a tem- 
porary excitement,  the  natural  reaction  of  popular 
feeling  would  demand  a restoration  of  the  old  law; 
or  the  right  of  voting,  and  other  privileges  of  citi- 
zenship, would  be  conferred  by  the  States  upon 
their  alien  inhabitants.  The  power  of  each  State, 
then,  is  ample  over  its  own  ballot-box,  and  it  can 
be  approached  oniy  by  those  on  whom  she  confers 
the  right.  There  is  not  a voter  of  the  Union  who 
derives  his  power  from  the  Federal  Government; 
he  may  be  naturalized  under  a law  of  Congress, 
and  possess  all  that  such  laws  can  bestow,  yet 
never  be  permitted  to  cast  a vote  or  hold  a State 
office  in  the  Union.  This  is  fortunate,  as  the 
necessities  of  States  are  different.  In  some,  the 
foreign  population  is  so  numerous  as  to  require, 
perhaps, some  State  legislation;  in  others,  there  is 
so  little  that  it  is  merged  in  the  mass  of  the  native- 
born  people.  The  proportion  of  natives  to  for- 
eigners in  some  States,  is  as  one  to  eight  or  ten;  in 
others — Mississippi  for  instance — as  one  to  sixty 
of  the  native  white  population.  It  seems  natural 
that  States  of  such  dissimilar  conditions  should 
have  laws  adapted  to  their  peculiar  necessities, 
and  if  abuses  have  arisen  where  the  foreign  popu- 
lation is  flense,  which  require  laws  for  their  eradi- 
cation, it  is  useless,  not  to  say  foolish,  for  States, 
where  those  abuses  are  unknown,  to  enact  laws 
for  their  suppression. 

The  foreign  population  of  Mississippi  is  re- 
ported in  the  oensus  at  five  thousand;  the  entire 
white  population  three  hundred  thousand.  These 
foreigners,  for  the  most  part,  are  peaceable,  indus- 
trious, useful  citizens.'  They  keep  up  no  separate 
schools,  publish  no  papers  in  their  native  tongue, 
affect  no  interests  distinct  from  those  of  the  rest 
of  the  community,  and  are  steadily  being  absorbed 
into  the  mass  of  the  people.  Nor  have  they,  sir, 
done  that  which  seems  the  unpardonable  offense — 
obtained  more  than  a share  of  public  office. 


11 


Why,  then,  does  Mississippi  need  to  join  in 
any  persecution,  open  or  covert,  of  her  foreign 
population?  Why  should  Congress  enact  any 
general  law  applicable  to  her,  which  she  does  not 
need,  for  the  convenience  of  those  States  whose 
situation  may,  indeed,  require  it,  but  who  have 
full  power,  in  their  State  rights,  to  enact  any  law 
their  exigencies  demand?  Our  foreign  population 
does  us  no  injury  which' the  laws  of  Congress  can 
redress.  The  evil  is  local,  so  should  the  remedy 
be. 

I am  influenced  by  considerations  of  this  kind, 
when  I say  that  I am  not  fired  with  the  prospect 
of  a splendid  Government,  nor  anxious  to  see  our 
population  swelled  with  a mighty  influx  of  for- 
eigners. In  due  season  the  time  will  arrive  when 
the  natural  increase  of  our  native  people  will 
spread  over  our  territory,  and  at  a more  distant 
period  the  condition  of  a crowded  and  redundant 
population  will  be  reached.  As  this  condition  is 
approached,  there  is  less  of  happiness  proportion- 
ably;  at  least  there  is  a far  more  visible  crying 
misery.  The  fortunate  classes  may  enjoy  more, 
but  the  poorer  classes  suffer  more.  Any  course  of 
action  giving  an  artificial  stimulus  to  the  causes 
which  will  bring  this  state  of  things,  is  to  be 
shunned.  There  are  no  new  worlds  on  which  the 
excess  of  population  here  can  be  poured.  Europe 
and  Asia  will  alike  present  barriers  in  their  own 
crowded  nations  to  any  addition  from  these  shores. 
The  evil,  when  it  comes  to  exist  here,  must  find  its 
solution  at  home.  Highly  colored  pictures  are  often 
shown  us  of  the  myriad  population  that  is  to  be  j 
poured  upon  us,  and  the  measures  I have  been 
discussing  are  pointed  to  as  remedies  for  that  state 
of  things.  These  1 esteem  utterly  worthless  for* 
the  purpose. 

I do  not  deny,  on  the  contrary  I affirm,  the 
right  of  a nation  to  impose  such  terms  on  the 
influx  of  foreigners  as  a due  regard  to  her  own 
interest  and  safety  require.  She  is  the  sole  judge 
of  the  evil  and  the  remedy.  If  there  were  just 
reason  to  apprehend  such  an  immigration  from 
Europe  or  Asia,  as  would  unduly  crowd  our 
people,  impoverish  our  labor,  or  eihaust  our  soil, 

I should  advocate  a policy  more  prompt,  and 
adapted  to  the  emergency,  than  the  ritual  of  the 
Know-Nothings,  or  their  clumsy  imitation  of  the 
secrecy  and  persecution  of  the  Jesuits.  We  have 
the  right,  and  I should  favor  its  exercise  in  that 
extremity,  to  deny  all  foreigners  admission,  and 
I would,  in  that  case,  have  our  coast  present  an 
iron  front  to  the  tide  of  immigration  as  it  does  to 
the  waves  of  the  ocean,  so  long  as  the  danger 
existed.  But  I would  appeal  to  the  manly,  com 
mon  sense  of  the  people,  and  have  our  action,  if 
any  were  taken,  wear  all  the  dignity  of  national 
justice  and  self-defence,  and  not  the  sinister  aspect  I 
of  a revengeful  intrigue  and  midnight  cabal.  1 | 
do  not  believe  the  time  for  such  action  has  come;  i 
and  if  it  were  now  thick  upon  us,  the  remedies  of 
Know-Nothingism  are  poor,  flimsy — wholly  in- 
adequate. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  policy  of  our  Gov- 
ernment has  been  to  encourage  immigration.  The 
vast  amount  of  fertile  unoccupied  territory,  the 
number  of  canals  to  be  dug,  of  railroads  to  be 
built,  and  all  the  variety  of  labor  required  in  a new 
country,  induced  our  ancestors  to  solicit  foreign 
aid.  The  surplus  labor  and  capital  of  Europe 
found  employment  here.  Most  of  the  immigrants 


settled  in  the  northern  and  northwestern  States, 
and  it  is  owing  to  this  addition  to  their  native 
population  that  their  numbers  have  increased  faster 
than  the  southern  States.  The  natural  growth 
of  population  at  the  South,  is  as  rapid  as  in  any 
part  of  the  world.  These  foreigners  not  only 
brought  their  strength  to  increase  our  productive 
industry,  but  the  aggregate  of  money  they  have 
introduced  into  the  country,  has  been  very  large; 
many  of  them  being  inferior  in  education  and  so- 
cial advantages  to  our  native  population,  turned 
to  those  occupations  which  are  almost  solely 
physical,  requiring  vigor  of  muscle,  and  strength 
of  constitution,  leaving  to  the  native  popula- 
tion almost  a monoply  of  the  more  scientific  and 
remunerative  branches  of  industry.  This  pop- 
ulation has  furnished  to  the  North  a large  increase 
of  capital.  It  has  supplied  capital  with  a cheaper 
labor,  by  increasing  the  amount  of  it.  It  has 
given  greater  activity  to  manufacturers,  by  adding 
several  millions  to  the  number  of  consumers.  It 
has  strengthened  the  shipping  interest,  by  an 
amount  of  passage  money  equal,  it  is  said,  to 
the  whole  export  freights  of  the  country.  The 
North  could  not  have  completed  one  tenth  of  her 
improvements,  and  kept  up  her  other  interests  to 
their  present  extent,  without  this  foreign  labor. 
Most  of  these  improvements  at  the  South  have 
been  made  by  the  native  labor,  and  without  ma- 
terially diminishing  the  annual  supply  of  the  staple 
productions  of  the  country.  As  a section,  the 
North  has  reaped  the  benefits  of  this  immigration, 
and  it  will  haye  to  meet  the  consequences  which 
flow  from  it.  The  question  of  the  organization 
of  labor,  its  rights  and  duties,  is  perhaps  the  most 
vexed  one  of  all  that  disturb  the  body  politic. 
By  immigration  we  are  perhaps  fifty  years  in  ad- 
vance of  what  we  should  have  been,  had  increase 
in  numbers  been  natural  only.  The  difficulties 
that  attend  our  condition  are  not  mainly  attributa- 
ble to  the  foreign  origin  of  a part  of  the  popula- 
tion, but  to  the  number  of  the  population.  If 
every  foreigner  were  this  day  removed  from  the 
country,  and  natives  in  equal  numbers  substi- 
tuted, the  difficulties  Which  exist  now  would  be 
as  great  then,  and  substantially  the  same.  It 
matters  not  where  the  population  is  born,  if  there 
is  not  work  for  them  to  do,  and  they  have  no 
accumulations  in  store,  there  will  be  want,  mis- 
ery, and  destitution.  It  results  from  the  density 
of  population,  and  not  from  its  nativity.  If  the 
| population  of  New  York  city  were  to-day  wholly 
native,  would  the  cessation  of  business,  the  par- 
tial suspension  of  manufactures,  trade*,  and  com- 
merce, afflict  them  less  sorely  than  it  does  the 
present  mixed  population?  But  yesterday,  and 
there  was  labor  for  all,  and,  with  labor,  food  and 
contentment;  to-day  there  is  a deficient  supply, 
and  at  the  same  time  a greater  scarcity  and  dear- 
ness of  the  necessaries  of  life.  If  there  be  any 
way  to  prevent  these  fluctuations  in  business,  and 
the  suffering  consequent  upon  them,  it  has  never 
yet  been  made  known. 

I have  alluded  to  these  things,  sir,  not  in  the 
spirit  of  crimination — God  forbid,  sir — for  the 
whole  country  lies  too  near  my  heart  for  me  to  feel 
anything  but  the  warmest  sympathy  for  any 
J section  whose  happiness  is  impaired,  but  for  the 
) purpose  of  pointing  out  what  seems  to  me  the 
j very  root  of  the  disorder  complained  of.  And,  I 
||  think,  both  of  the  great  sections  of  the  Union 


12 


might  find  a practical  argument  for  mutual  charity 
in  the  fact,  that  the  social  condition  of  each  has 
in  it  the  germs  of  consequence  which  will  give 
home  occupation  to  their  wisdom  and  philanthropy 
without  either  intermeddling  in  the  affairs  of  the 
other.  As  soon  as  the  population  of  the  South 
becomes  so  dense  that  labor  is  not  remunerated, 
and  there  are  no  new  regions  for  it  to  occupy,  its 
period  of  trouble  will  have  arrived;  and  the  same 
is  true,  equally  true,  of  the  North.  So  far  as 
immigration  may  help  to  bring  this  state  of  things 
prematurely,  so  far  the  troubles  consequent  upon 
it  are  attributable  to  foreign  population;  but  I 
repeat  that  it  is  a question  of  numbers,  not  of  race  or 
nativity 

The  last  purpose  to  be  achieved  by  the  Know- 
Nothings,  is  the  exclusion  of  all  Catholics  from 
office.  That  this  is  one  object  to  be  accom- 
plished by  the  order,  is  evident  from  the  oath 
taken  by  the  members  upon  admission,  and  which 
I have  already  quoted.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that 
there  is  deversity  of  opinion  among  the  brethren 
of  different  sections.  The  order  seems  already  to 
have  fallen  into  the  most  corrupt  practice  at- 
tributed to  the  old  parties,  and  to  the  most  cor- 
rupt class  of  the  old  politicians,  that  of  varying 
its  creed  with  every  change  of  latitude.  In  the 
infancy  of  its  existence,  it  is  already  mature  in  its 
vices,  and  with  a most  surprising  harmony  be- 
tween the  end  and  the  means,  it  aims  at  political 
and  religious  intolerance  by  seizing  on  every  pre- 
judice and  adopting  every  creed.  The  foreign 
Protestant  is  told  that  the  order  strikes  only  at 
Catholicism,  and  the  native  Catholic  is  assured 
that  it  interferes  with  no  man’s  religion,  but 
attempts  to  limit  the  influence  of  foreigners. 

In  Louisiana,  Catholics  are  allowed  to  join  the 
order,  we  are  told — and  why?  because  that  denom- 
ination is  too  numerous  there  to  be  assailed  open- 
ly. If  the  order  throughout  the  Union  is  sincere 
in  its  hostility  to  Catholicism,  then  the  Catholics 
of  Louisiana  and  elsewhere,  who  are  persuaded 
that  their  faith  js  not  to  be  harmed,  are  deceived 
and  betrayed ; but  if  they  are  not  thus  deceived , all 
others  who  have  joined  with  the  hope  of  crushing 
the  influence  of  that  church,  are  imposed  upon, 
and  have  sworn  their  oaths  in  vain.  In  either 
event  there  is  deception,  which  compels  us  to 
distrust,  and  should  teach  us  to  shun,  the  order  of 
the  Know-Nothings. 

It  is  something  that  will,  I dare  say,  excite  sur- 
prise through  the  civilized  world,  when  it  becomes 
known,  that  the  people  of  this  country,  who  have 
been  first  *to  practice,  in  its  fullest  extent,  the 
great  Christian  doctrine  of  toleration,  are  engaged 
in  discussing  whether  or  not  the  Government  is 
safe  while  it  continues.  England  which,  three 
centuries  ago,  disfranchised  the  Catholics,  and  has 
since,  under  the  influence  of  our  example,  grad- 
ually relaxed  the  stringency  of  her  laws,  may 
well  distrust  her  course,  if  our  experiment  demon- 
strates that  even  a Republic  is  endangered  by 
religious  freedom  among  its  citizens.  With  what 
show  of  justioe  or  consistency  can  we  plead  to  the 
Catholic  sovereigns  of  Europe  for  the  toleration 
of  Protestantism  in  their  dominions,  while  we 
disfranchise  our  fellow-citizens  of  the  Catholic 
faith.  How  can  we  ask  them  to  go  forward  in 
relaxing  the  fetters  of  opinion,  while  we  are  going 
backward?  How  dare  we  talk  of  freedom  of 
conscience,  when  more  than  a million  of  our  citi- 


\ 

\ 


i 


II 


zens  are  to  be  excluded  from  office  for  conscience 
sake. 

Yesterday,  to  have  argued  in  favor  of  religious 
toleration  in  this  country,  would  have  been  absurd, 
for  none  could  have  been  found  to  deny  or  question 
it.  But  to-day,  there  is  a sect  boasting  that  it  can 
control  the  country,  avowing  the  old  papist  and 
monarchical  doctrine  of  political  exclusion  for  reli- 
gious opinions’ sake.  The  arguments  by  which 
they  sustain  themselves,  are  those  by  which  the 
Inquisition  justified  their  probing  the  consciences, 
and  burning  the  bodies  of  men  five  hundred  year 
ago,  and  against  which  Protestantism  has  struggled 
since  the  days  of  Luther.  You,  sir,  and  I,  and 
all  of  us,  owe  our  own  right  to  worship  God 
according  to  our  consciences,  to  that  very  doctrine 
which  this  new  order  abjures;  and  if  the  right  of 
the  Catholic  is  first  assailed,  and  destroyed,  you, 
sir,  or  another  member  who  believes  according  to 
a different  Protestant  creed,  may  be  excluded  from 
this  House,  and  from  other  preferment,  because  of 
your  religious  faith.  The  security  of  all  citizens 
rests  upon  the  same  broad  basis  of  universal  right. 
Confederates  who  disfranchise  one  class  of  citi- 
zens soon  turn  upon  each  other;  the  strong  argu- 
ment of  general  right  is  destroyed  by  their  united 
action,  and  the  proscriptionist  of  yesterday  is  the 
proscribed  of  to-morrow.  Human  judgment  has 
recognized  the  inexorable  justice  of  the  sentence 
which  consigned  Robespierre  and  his  accomplices 
to  the  same  guillotine  to  which  they  had  con- 
demned so  many  thousand  better  men. 

No  nation  can  content  itself  with  a single  act  of 
persecution;  either  public  intelligence  will  reject 
that  as  unworthy  of  itself,  or  public  prejudice  will 
edd  others  to  it.  If  the  Catholic  be  untrustworthy 
as  a citizen,  and  the  public  liberty  is  unsafe  in  his 
keeping,  it  is  but  a natural  logical  consequence 
that  he  shall  not  be  permitted  to  disseminate  a faith 
which  is  adjudged  hostile  to  national  independ- 
ence; that  he  shall  not  be  allowed  to  set  the  evil 
example  of  the  practice  of,  his  religion  before  the 
public,  that  it  shall  not  be  preached  from  the  pul- 
pit, that  it  shall  not  be  taught  in  the  schools,  and 
that,  by  all  the  energy  of  the  law,  it  shall  be  utterly 
exterminated. 

If  this  faith  be  incompatible  with  good  citizen- 
ship, and  you  set  about  to  discourage  it,  destroy  it 
utterly,  uproot  it  from  the  land.  Petty  persecu- 
tion will  but  irritate  a sect  which  the  Know-Noth- 
ings denounce  as  so  powerful  and  so  dangerous. 
This  was  the  course  which  England  pursued  when 
she  entertained  the  same  fears  of  the  Catholics 
three  hundred  years  ago,  and  which  she  has  lived 
to  see  the  absurdity  of, ‘and  has  removed  almost, 
if  not  quite,  every  disability  imposed.  Perhaps, 
however,  this  new  sect  will  not  startle  the  public 
mind  by  proposing  too  much  at  once,  and  holds 
that  it  will  be  time  enough  to  propose  further  and 
more  minute  persecution,  when  the  national  sen- 
timent is  debauched  enough  to  entertain  favorably 
this  first  great  departure  from  the  unbounded  toler- 
ation of  our  fathers. 

It  is  the  experience  of  this  country  that  perse- 
cution strengthens  a new  creed.  The  manhood 
of  our  nature,  of  all  true,  genuine  men,  clings 
more  ardently  to  a faith  which  brings  peril  to  the 
believer.  Perhaps  it  is  true  of  all  times  and 
countries.  Christianity  grew  strongest  under  per- 
secution— not  merely  the  exclusion  from  office, 
which  is  the  condemnation  of  the  Know-Nothing 


* 


13 


conventicles,  but  when  the  faggots  and  the  stake 
were  the  portion  of  the  true  believer.  With  the 
history  of  Protestantism  so  recent,  and  so  fresh  in 
our  minds,  its  birth  in  the  very  bosom  of  the 
Romish  Church,  where  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
power  were  united  to  discourage  and  destroy  every  ; 
species  of  heresy;  its  growth  amid  every  form  of  j 
danger,  obloquy,  and  persecution;  its  triumph,  by 
the  aid  of  truth  and  reason;  and  remembering  how 
every  effort  to  destroy  it  only  planted  it  deeper  in 
the  hearts  of  the  faithful,  it  is  natural  to  believe 
that  persecution  will  invigorate  other  creeds  and 
sects.  Whoever  has  the  courage  to  bear  the  tor- 
ture for  conscience,  will  kindle  more  sympathy, 
and  attract  more  converts,  than  the  most  eloquent 
tongue.  In  my  judgment,  this  attempt  at  pro- 
scription will  do  more  to  spread  Catholicism  here 
than  all  the  treasures  of  Rome,  or  all  the  Jesuitism 
of  the  Cardinals. 

Now,  sir,  what  is  this  movement  at  the  North, 
and  who  are  engaged  in  it?  It  is  a combination 
of  all  the  “ isms”  of  that  section.  Abolitionism, 
Free-Soilism,Whigism,Woman-Rightism,  Social- 
ism, Anti-Rentism,  gathered  together  from  a thou- 
sand fretful  rills,  and  mingling  their  currents  in 
one  common  channel.  Abolitionism  and  Know- 
Nothingism  are  akin;  the  first  is  a denial  of  the 
rights  of  a section  of  the  Union,  and  an  attempt 
to  destroy  them,  because,  in  its  wisdom,  it  has 
determined  that  those  rights  have  not  the  proper 
moral  sanction;  the  other  is  a denial  of  the  rights 
of  a class  of  citizens,  regardless  of  section.  One 
is  a crusade  against  the  rights  of  States;  the  other 
against  the  rights  of  individuals.  The  one  openly 
spurns  the  Constitution  fthe  other  attempts  a flimsy 
evasion  of  it.  This  daringly  attempts  a breach 
and  an  assault;  that  more  cunningly  adopts  and 
prepares  a surprise.  The  one  almost  commands 
respect  for  nefarious  schemes  by  boldness  and 
courage;  the  other  would  bring  discredit  on  the 
best  of  causes,  by  evasion,  circuity,  and  irrespon- 
sible assaults.  In  Massachusetts,  when  the  sect 
made  their  own  nominations,  so  far  as  I can  learn 
the  politics  of  those  elected  to  Congress,  all  are 
ultra  anti-slavery  men.  No  man  suspected  of 
moderation  was  allowed  to  occupy  a seat  here. 
The  candidate  whom  they  elected  Governor  de- 
clared: 

“ It  is  not  true  that  I am,  or  have  ever  been,  in  favor  of 
the  fugiti  ve  slave  bill.  I never  voted  for  a man  who  favored 
it,  knowing  such  to  be  his  views;  and  I must  very  much 
change  before  I ever  do.  I never,  by  word,  act,  or  vote, 
favored  its  passage,  and  I am  an  advocate  of  its  essential 
modification,  or,  in  lieu  thereof,  its  unconditional  re- 
peal.” 

The  following  resolutions  of  a Know-Nothing 
convention,  held  in  Norfolk,  Massachusetts,  show 
the  sectionalism  and  intolerance  of  the  order: 

“ Resolved,  That  in  the  present  chaotic  condition  of 
parties  in  Massachusetts,  the  only  star  above  the  horizon 
is  the  love  of  human  liberty  and  the  abhorrence  of  slavery, 
and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  anti-slavery  men  to  rally  around 
the  Republican  party  as  an  organization  which  invites  the 
united  action  of  the  people  on  the  one  transcending  ques- 
ion  of  slave  dominion,  which  now  divides  the  Union. 

“ Whereas,  Roman  Catholicism  and  slavery  being  alike 
founded  and  supported  on  the  basis  of  ignorance  and  tyr- 
anny ; and  being,  therefore,  natural  allies  in  every  warfare 
against  liberty  and  enlightenment ; therefore  be  it 

“ Resolved,  That  there  can  exist  no  real  hostility  to 
Roman  Catholicism  which  does  not  embrace  slavery,  its 
natural  coworker  in  opposition  to  freedom  and  republican 
institutions.” 

Those  whom  the  order  voted  for,  elsewhere  in 
the  North,  are  of  the  ultra  stamp,  almost  with- 


out exception.  To  secure  the  vote  of  the  Free- 
Soilers  and  Abolitionists  of  both  the  old  parties,  it 
was  indispensable  to  have  a candidate  tinctured 
strongly  with  those  heresies,  and  a flavor  of 
Know-Nothingism  was  added  to  secure  the  coop- 
eration of  certain  Democrats,  whom  unadulterated 
Whiggery  and  Abolitionism  might  have  disgusted. 
It  was  a combination  and  a triumph  of  all  that 
was  ultra,  and  factious,  and  discontented,  overall 
that  was  moderate,  and  judicious,  and  studious  of 
the  public  peace. 

Now  that  most  of  the  elections  at  the  North 
are  over,  a laborious  attempt  is  made  to  persuade 
the  South  that  the  order  is  free  of  those  Aboli- 
tion tendencies  which  secured  its  triumph.  The 
one  great  fact  relied  on  is,  that  the  order  in  New 
York  is  opposed  to  Seward.  Let  us  inquire  into 
this.  There  is  a strife  in  that  State  between  the 
Silver  Grey  or  Fillmore  Whigs  and  the  Seward- 
ites.  It  is,  in  the  main,  a personal  strife,  the  rivalry 
of  two  ambitious  men.  Seward  has  taken  ground 
against  the  Know-Nothings  for  two  reasons,  I 
suppose.  He,  in  common  with  other  Whigs  of 
New  York,  had,  in  past  years,  committed  himself 
upon  certain  questions  designed  to  win  favor  with 
the  foreign  voters,  and  could  not  join  in  this  new 
persecution  without  gross  inconsistency.  But, 
worse  than  that,  he,  in  common  with  the  Whigs 
of  the  Union,  had  supported  General  Scott,  who 
had  advocated  in  the  canvass  giving  to  any  for- 
eigner who  served  in  the  armies  of  the  United 
States  twelve  months  the  right  to  vote.  He  had 
read  without  public  dissent,  as  had  the  rest  of  the 
Whig  parly,  General  Scott’s  speeches  on  his  west- 
ern tour,  in  which  there  were  warm  eulogies  of 
“ the  rich  Irish  brogue,  with  the  illigant  Jarmin 
accent, ’’and  if  others  are  willing,in  two  years’  time 
to  pass  from  eulogists  and  suppliants  of  foreign- 
ers, to  abusers  and  persecutors,  it  seems  that  he  is 
not.  He  knows  that  judicious  men  will  ask:  Were 
you  sincere,  two  years  since,  when  you  attempted 
to  cajole  the  foreign  vote,  or  are  you  sincere  now? 
If  you  were  in  earnest  then,  what  great  events 
have  occurred  to  change  your  views  so  completely? 
If  you  were  not  in  earnest  then,  how  shall  we  trust 
you  now  ? Efforts  were  made  to  array  all  the  preju- 
dice of  the  Catholics  against  General  Pierce.  He 
was  denounced  for  living  in  a State  whose  consti- 
tution excluded  Catholics  from  office;  though  he 
was  opposed  to  that  clause  of  the  Constitution, 
and  had  voted  against  it.  For  the  first  time,  to 
my  knowledge,  the  attempt  was  made  to  bring 
religion  into  the  field  of  politics,  in  a presidential 
campaign,  and  it  originated  with  those  who  are 
now  active  in  getting  up  a furor  of  persecution 
against  foreigners  and  Catholics.  They  had  failed 
to  win  the  united  Catholic  and  foreign  vote  for 
General  Scott,  and  they  seem  determined  to  be 
revenged  on  those  whom  they  once  so  flatteringly 
besought.  It  is  natural  to  hate  those  before  whom 
we  have  humiliated  ourselves  in  vain. 

Mr.  Seward, perhaps,  has  too  much  justice  and 
consistency  to  join  in  so  unrepublican  a move- 
ment. It  was  he  who  assailed  the  Know-Nothings, 
and  not  they  him.  The  natural  affinity  for  Free- 
Soil,  as  shown  in  other  States,  satisfies  me  that 
they  would  have  united  with/  him  had  he  not 
spurned  the  association.  He  first  threw  down  the 
gauntlet  to  them,  and  has  come  off  victor  in  the 
contest.  The  charm  of  Know-Nothing  invinci- 
bility was  broken  by  the  triumph  of  both  Whig 


14 


and  Democrat  over  them,  and  the  order  attempted 
to  revenge  itself  by  persecuting  its  pwn  members. 
He  can  dictate  his  terms  of  accommodation  with 
them,  I have  no  doubt.  The  pretense  that  one 
great  mission  of  the  order  is  to  put  down  anti- 
slavery, and  especially  William  H.  Seward,  is 
sheer  nonsense,  and  has  been  largely  circulated, 
since  the  northern  elections,  to  make  the  order 
popular  in  the  South,  and  thus  to  foist  into  power 
there,  as  it  has  done  in  the  North,  the  enemies  of 
the  Democratic  party,  and  of  this  Democratic 
Administration.  The  Silver  Greys  of  New  York 
are  anxious  to  defeat  Seward  to  remove  a rival 
of  their  own  chief,  even  if  they  send  a more  dan- 
gerous man  in  his  place. 

Another  reason  of  Mr.  Seward ’s  refusing  to  join 
the  order,  I doubt  not,  was  that,  with  his  sagacity, 
looking  to  ultimate  success,  he  could  not  fail  to  see 
that  the  whole  movement  would  be  short-lived, 
and  that  when  it  ended,  no  political  act,  not  even 
membership  of  the  Hartford  Convention,  with  its 
secret  proceedings,  could  be  more  destructive  to 
the  prospects  of  a public  man  than  to  have  avowed 
the  principles  of  the  order.  You,  sir,  and  I,  we 
all  know,  that  it  is  the  almost  universal  opinion  in 

Eolitical  circles  here,  that  this  thing  will  have  a 
rief  day.  The  most  anxious  wet-nurses  of  the 
bantling  hardly  expect  it  to  live  through  the  pres- 
idential canvass  of  185G.  There  is  everywhere 
the  most  feverish  anxiety  among  the  faithful  to 
secure  some  little  official  crumb  of  comfort  before  it 
is  forever  too  late.  Each  longs  to  be  carried  into  the 
pool  while  the  waters  are  troubled,  for  the  time  of 
the  troubling,  they  know  full  well,  will  soon  be 
past,  and  then,  where  shall  they  be  healed?  Evi- 
dences of  premature  decay  are  already  visible.  It 
will  vanish  as  suddenly  as  it  arose,  and  leave 
scarcely  a wreck  behind.  They  feel  the  sandy 
foundation  slipping  from  beneath  their  feet.  They 
feel  their  sentence  is  pronounced  each  time  they 
hear  repeated  the  wise  and  tolerant  doctrines  of  our 
religion,  and  which  are  grafted  upon  our  Consti- 
tution. Blank  annihilation  stares  them  in  the  face. 
They  see  indignation  and  distrust  without,  discord 
and  rebellion  within.  Their  secrecy  is  betrayed 
and  mocked,  their  intolerance  despised,  and  their 
prestige  broken. 

Towns  in  Massachusetts  over  which  the  storm 
swept  in  November,  have  since  had  municipal 
elections,  and  those  opposed  to  the  order  were 
open  in  their  denunciation  of  it  and  of  its  princi- 
ples, and,  banding  against  it  as  against  a common 
enemy,  have  defeated  it.  The  organization  of  the 
order  is  better  understood;  its  intolerance,  even 
to  its  members,  has  too  plainly  manifested  itself, 
and  others  have  not  hesitated  to  apply  to  the 
order  those  epithets  bestowed  upon  the  action  of 
the  New  York  council  by  the  Brooklyn  breth- 
ren, “anti-American,”  “anti-Republican,” 
“ Most  unwarrantable,  abominable,  and  dan- 
gerous ASSUMPTION  of  DESPOTIC  POWER,”  in  its 
“ CONFESSIONAL,  PENANCE,  and  THREATS  of  EX- 
COMMUNICATION,  only  equaled  by  the  holy  Inquisi- 
tion of  Spain,  and  only  worthy  of  imitation  by 
the  GRAND  COUNCIL  OF  CARDINALS  AT  ROME.” 

I can  but  believe  that  the  Brooklyn  insurgents 
have  used  language  which  the  deliberate  judg-  j 
ment  of  the  American  people  will  adopt  as  their  | 
opinion  of  the  character,  the  purposes,  and  the  I 
merits  of  the  order,  and  this  opinion  will  soon  be 
both  verdict  and  epitaph. 


Were  there  no  cause  for  the  dissolution  of  the 
I order  in  its  principles,  the  discordant  materials 
j which  compose  it  would  soon  precipitate  its  de- 
j struction.  The  ultra  men  already  elected,  agree- 
! ing  in  nothing  but  hostility  to  the  South,  to  aliens, 

I and  to  Catholics,  can  harmonize  in  no  course  of 
j[  action,  foreign  or  domestic,  unless  by  the  happen- 
j ing  of  a Whig  majority  in  Congress,  the  tariff 
j should  be  altered  to  suit  the  protectionist  theory, 
j or  some  other  doctrine  of  that  party  be  embodied 
| in  a law.  If  this  order  takes  hold  in  the  South,  it 
j will  surprise  both  friends  and  opponents.  It  will 
1 be  a matter  of  wonder  why  that  section,  suffering 
none  of  the  hardships  which  are  plead  as  an 
excuse  for  the  order  in  the  North,  ami  from  her 
institutions  peculiarly  averse  to  secret  and  irrespon- 
sible associations,  should  discard  a long  history  of 
generous  toleration  to  adopt  the  creed  of  proscrip- 
tion, and  wear  the  name  of  an  order  which,  in  the 
northern  States,  has  beaten  down  the  defenders  of 
the  Constitution  and  State-rights,  and  inaugurated 
more  fully  than  ever  before,  the  era  of  consolida- 
tion and  fanaticism. 

In  a crisis  like  the  present,  it  becomes  the 
Democratic  party  to  remain  steadfast  to  its  old 
principles.  In  the  “ Act  for  establishing  religious 
freedom,”  adopted  in  Virginia,  in  1786,  and  ori- 
ginating in  the  benevolent  mind  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
it  was  enacted  that, 


“No man  shall  be  enforced,  restrained,  molested,  or  bur- 
dened, in  his  body  or  goods,  nor  shall  he  otherwise  suffer 
on  account  of  his  religious  opinions  or  belief,  but  that  all 
men  shall  be  free  to  profess,  and  by  argument,  to  maintain, 
their  opinions  in  matters  of  religion,  and  that  the  same 

SHALL  IN  NOWISE  DIMINISH,  ENLARGE,  OR  AFFECT  THEIR 
CIVIL  CAPACITIES.” 


On  this  tolerant  principle  the  Democratic  party, 
through  all  the  variety  of  disaster  and  success,  has 
stood  from  that  day  to  this.  It  has  been  the 
guardian  of  every  civil  and  political  right,  of  every 
individual,  and  of  every  section.  No  error  has 
been'too  gigantic  for  its  assault,  no  right  too  insig- 
nificant for  its  protection.  When  the  rights  of  the 
States  were  in  peril  during  the  Federal  adminis- 
tration of  the  elder  Adams,  it  was  the  champion 
of  our  faith,  Mr.  Jefferson,  who  was  foremost  in 
their  defense,  resting  their  security  upon  principles 
as  wise  and  venerable  as  the  Constitution  itself, 
and  triumphantly  sustained  by  the  Democratic 
party.  It  was  during  his  administration  that  the 
“ alien  and  sedition  laws,”  so  violative  of  personal 
right,  were  effaced  from  the  statute-book  by  the 
votes  of  the  same  Democratic  party  which  it  is  now 
attempted  to  seduce  into  heresies  more  abomina- 
ble than  those  which  it  then  abolished.  This  new 
ism  is  the  old  “ alien  law,”  under  a thin  disguise; 
and  these  two,  with  “ Native  Americanism,”  are 
bodies  into  which  the  old  unlaid  spirit  of  Feder- 
alism has  insinuated  itself,  hoping,  under  these 
forms,  to  obtain  a favor  which  was  always  denied 
it  when  recognized.  It  is  like  Petruchio’s  nether 
wedding  garment,  “a  thrice-turned  pair  of  old 
breeches,”  betraying  the  nakedness  it  was  intended 
to  conceal. 


The  integrity  and  respectability  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  have  been  sustained  by  adhering  to 
the  great  constitutional  doctrines  which  it  incul- 
cated, and  refusing  under  all  circumstances,  to 
ally  itself  with  the  temporary  isms,  which  the 
Whig  party  has  so  readily  affiliated  with,  and 
which  have  resulted  in  its  corruption,  and  almost 


15 


in  its  destruction . Though  defeated  at  the  North , 
in  the  late  elections,  those  who  stood  by  their 
principles  through  that  arduous  struggle,  are  men 
whose  devotion  to  tfuth  is  beyond  suspicion,  and 
who,  aided  by  a few  thousand  of  their  old  friends, 
whom  the  excitement  and  the  deceptions  of  the 
hour  have  misled,  will  soon  bear  the  ancient  flag 
triumphant  through  that  section,  and  reinstate 
their  old  principles,  and  their  true  men.  Is  it 
wiser  for  the  South  to  trust  this  new  organization, 
for  the  just  interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  on 
which  her  rights,  and  those  of  the  whole  Union, 
depend,  or  that  old  party  which,  feven  when  de- 
feated by  desperate  factions,  has  always  possessed 
a large  body  of  faithful  men,  and  who  are  now  in 
a minority  only  because  they  are  devoted  to 
the  Constitution  and  the  rights  of  the  States? 

We  know  that  this  order  is  hostile  to  principles 


which  the  party  have  ever  cherished.  We  know 
that  it  is  a formidable  machine  in  the  hands  of 
ambitious  men  to  defeat  this  Administration, 
which  stands  as  a bulwark  for  the  just  rights  of 
the  States,  and  the  people,  against  every  form  of 
persecution  and  fanaticism.  We  know  that  under 
its  banner  are  arrayed  those  who,  for  a quarter  of 
a century,  have  been  the  enemies  of  the  Consti- 
tution and  national  peace;  that  against  it  are  op- 
posed those  whom  we  have  ever  cherished  as  our 
friends,  and  the  true  friends  of  the  Union — whom 
fanaticism  has  reviled  and  persecuted,  and  who, 
under  every  adversity,  have  stood  by  the  rights  of 
the  States  and  of  the  citizens  of  every  State.  It 
will  create  no  surprise  that  we  adhere  to  old 
friends  who  have  proven  faithful,  rather  than  trust 
ancient  enemies,  who  do  not  conceal  their  aversions 
even  while  they  solicit  our  confidence. 


Printed  at  the  Office  of  the  Congressional  Globe. 


